NEW YORK – Bo Nickal let the crowd hear it after rebounding at UFC 322.
Nickal (8-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) bounced back from his first-career loss to Reinier de Ridder in emphatic fashion when he knocked out Rodolfo Vieira (11-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in Round 3 of their middleweight bout Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
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Nickal was in control of the fight from the get go, and capped off his performance with a perfect walk-off head kick knockout. The standout wrestler has had a spotlight on him since his debut, and admits the haters have lit a fire under him.
“Yeah, feeling like I had something to prove,” Nickal told MMA Junkie and other reporters during the post-fight news conference. “I have a chip on my shoulder. I wish that I was a little bit better person, but I’m not. I’m very competitive, and I’m just a guy, so I’m out here trying to do my best. But you get a little emotional out there when you’re fighting in your underwear in front of millions of people.”
Immediately after his finish, Nickal sat atop the octagon and flipped off the crowd.
“I felt like I was just standing up for myself a little bit,” Nickal explained. “They’re going to jaw at me and give me crap, then give it to them back a little bit. So I don’t look at it as anything other than just standing up for myself a little bit. It’s not personal at all. It’s just letting them know how I feel.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Bo Nickal explains why he flipped off crowd after UFC 322 knockout
