UFC Fight Night results, highlights: Reinier de Ridder shuts down top prospect Bo Nickal with crushing knee

Reinier de Ridder is a decorated champion from another promotion for a reason. The Dutch grappler made sure to remind folks just how good he is on Saturday night against rising middleweight prospect and contender Bo Nickal. De Ridder scored a second-round TKO of the collegiate wrestling champion with a brutal knee to the body in the co-main event from Des Moines, Iowa.

De Ridder and Nickal were interesting foils for each other. Their A-games were in full effect in Round 1. The middleweights were dogged in clinch situations and scrambled frantically on the ground. Their endurance-heavy first five minutes set the stage for Round 2’s decisive finish. Nickal’s technique started to slip as fatigue set in and discomfort took over. De Ridder landed the harder strikes in the pocket, forcing Nickal to flee. The Dutchman hunted down Nickal with a knee to the body that folded him.

“This is the best American grappler you have, right? Now give me your best American striker,” De Ridder said after his second-round TKO victory. “[Sean] Strickland, you’re up, buddy. Let’s go!”

De Ridder (20-2) didn’t make the best impression in his UFC debut. The former two-division ONE Championship titleholder’s win over Gerald Meerschaert was uninspiring. However, impressive finishes against Kevin Holland and now Nickal will go a long way in elevating his stock for UFC fans.

Nickal (7-1) was one of UFC’s most highly-touted prospects. The three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion had accrued seven wins with six finishes, almost exclusively in the UFC and “Contender Series.”