Bo Nickal expects to have his way with Tresean Gore at UFC 290

Bo Nickal has no doubt that he will take Tresean Gore to his world at UFC 290.

Nickal (4-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) meets Gore (4-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) on the pay-per-view main card opener July 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Nickal has lived up to his potential so far with two quick submissions on Dana White’s Contender Series, followed by a successful UFC debut against Jamie Pickett. The three-time Division I national wrestling champion expects to have no issues getting Gore to the mat, too.

“He probably obviously hopes to keep it standing, hopes to be able to stay on his feet and kind of play to his strengths,” Nickal said in an interview with Karyn Bryant. “But the way I see it, I don’t really feel like there’s any way he could stop me from taking him down. Even if he defends one, I’m still just gonna keep coming at him. I’m ready to go for 15 minutes. But realistically I think that I’ll get him on the ground, whether I knock him down or whether I take him down.

“Once I get him on the ground once, he’s not getting back up. That’s for certain. I not only can hold these MMA guys down, I can hold the best wrestlers in the world down – guys that have been wrestling their whole life, 20-plus years. That’s what I did in college. That’s what I still can do to this day. So, I don’t know how a guy that’s gonna train wrestling for eight weeks or kind of part-time train wrestling in the MMA sense, I don’t know what he’s going to be able to do to stop me.”

All four of Nickal’s professional wins have come in the first round, and he sees things going in similar fashion against Gore. A participant on “The Ultimate Fighter 29,” Gore picked up his first octagon win when he submitted Josh Fremd with a guillotine choke last October.

“I don’t like to guess exact predictions for the fight because I’m ready to adjust and change plan and fight however I need to win and get the finish,” Nickal said. “But if I have to do a prediction, I think that I’ll probably get him on the ground first round and either TKO him or sub him.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.