Third Time's the Charm? Bo Nickal vs. Yoel Romero Rescheduled for RAF 16
After two previous cancellations, the catchweight wrestling match between UFC prospect Bo Nickal and 49-year-old combat sports veteran Yoel Romero has been rebooked for RAF 16 in December.
HotTakes Editorial Team1 min read
Finding live odds…
The combat sports gods are absolutely determined to make us watch a 30-year-old UFC prospect wrestle a 49-year-old action figure. Real American Freestyle has officially rescheduled Bo Nickal versus Yoel Romero for RAF 16 on December 19 in Long Island.
If this headline gives you a severe case of deja vu, your brain is working perfectly. This is the third time matchmakers have tried to force this catchweight fever dream into reality. They originally booked it for RAF 4 last December before Nickal pulled out for undisclosed reasons, and then tried again for RAF 5 in January before Romero missed weight.
"Fans on social media joked that Nickal withdrew the first time because he saw training edits of Romero."
Nickal is currently a top-15 middleweight in the UFC and fresh off a September decision win over 2008 Olympic gold medalist Shirvani Gadzhikurbanovich Muradov on the RAF mats. He is in his physical prime, riding the momentum of three NCAA Division I national championships at Penn State into a highly anticipated MMA career.
Then you have Romero, who is pushing 50 and treating his combat sports twilight like a chaotic world tour. Since his last MMA fight, the former UFC title challenger has been bouncing between bare-knuckle boxing losses to guys like Darren Till and tech-fall wrestling defeats to Stephen Buchanan.
Oddsmakers will have a fascinating time trying to price a grappling match between a modern collegiate wrestling machine and a guy who won an Olympic silver medal back when Nickal was in preschool. The betting lines will naturally favor youth and recent activity, but fading Romero's freakish genetics is always a terrifying proposition.
The stakes here are entirely pride-based, but the internet will be merciless if Nickal somehow drops a wrestling match on his home turf to a guy eligible for AARP benefits. Now we just have to wait and see if both guys can actually make it to the scale in New York without the universe intervening for a third time.
Key stats
Key statsBo Nickal is a 30-year-old top-15 UFC middleweight and three-time NCAA Division I national champion.
Yoel Romero is 49 years old and won an Olympic silver medal in freestyle wrestling in 2000.
This is the third time RAF has attempted to book this specific matchup.
What's next
The event takes place December 19 in Long Island, assuming both men can finally make it to the mat without another cancellation.
