Bending his knees and extending his hands at waist level, Donovan Beard did what any sensible person in his position would do. When you’re in a steel cage, pitted against one of the most skilled and decorated wrestlers on the planet, it stands to reason that you would try to defend against the takedown.
Bo Nickal, though, has quickly gone from a top-shelf wrestler to a top-shelf mixed martial artist. Less than a minute into a middleweight fight last month on Dana White’s Contender Series—a Las Vegas–based showcase for promising fighters—Nickal rotated and torqued all of his 185 pounds. With Beard’s hands at half-mast, Nickal reared back and deployed a left hand that collided against Beard’s jaw. Beard collapsed like a sleeper sofa.
Nickal then transitioned slickly to the ground, wrapped his thick legs around Beard’s neck, sunk in a triangle choke and waited for Beard to tap out. Which he did, just 52 seconds after the fight started.
