UFC mailbag: Is Reinier de Ridder’s win over Bo Nickal the biggest hype train derailment ever?

Reinier de Ridder | Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

UFC Des Moines is in the books, and it’s on to UFC 315.

This past Saturday, the UFC returned to Iowa for the first time in nearly 25 years, and in the main event, Cory Sandhagen put a whooping on Deiveson Figueiredo to re-establish himself as a top contender at 135 pounds. But no one seems to care about that because in the co-main event, former two-division ONE champion Reinier de Ridder scored a huge upset, knocking out American super-prospect Bo Nickal to hand the former wrestling standout his first career loss.

People had a lot of feelings about that, so let’s dive into this week’s questions.

Down goes Bo

“Is Bo Nickal the biggest hype train derailment of all time?”

Oh, heavens no. At least, not yet.

The thing about MMA is that there are A LOT of hype trains. If you’ve been a fan of this sport for a long time, you can hardly remember all the fighters who were gassed up only to be a flash in the pan. I could probably spend an hour doing the dude thing of “just naming guys” who, at one point, people thought was the second coming, myself included.

The reason for this, I think, is that MMA isn’t like conventional sports where you have a team and follow that team for life. In MMA, you just gravitate towards fighters, and it’s always more fun to have been an early adopter (or early hater) of a fighter so you can say I told you so (I know this because I’m REALLY enjoying being among the first DDP and RDR stans out there). So when some new shiny fighter comes along, dividing lines are drawn far too soon.

But for a hype train to be derailed, it’s not just about one loss. One loss is a setback. A derailment comes when a fighter who was on a soaring trajectory suddenly sparks out like a bottle rocket and comes crashing back to Earth. We don’t know if that’s going to be the case with Nickal. Yes, he could lose his next four in a row and then retire, or this could be the catalyzing moment that spurs him onto greatness. If Nickal wins the middleweight title in three years, it would be hard to call this a hype derailment. Especially since Reinier de Ridder is actually quite good. No, this is much more likely to be a case of too much too soon for a talented fighter who, I believe, has mismanaged his career egregiously thus far.

But in that case, what is the biggest hype derailment in MMA history?

Like I said, there are plenty of good options. The juice behind Sokoudjou when he KOed Little Nog and Ricardo Arona in back-to-back fights was extreme, and then he promptly fell to Earth as a middling light heavyweight.

And let us never forget the infamous “Houston Alexander is FOR REAL” line from Joe Rogan after Alexander demolished Alessio Sakara at UFC 75. But unless I’m forgetting somebody, my pick for biggest hype derailment of all time goes to a man by the name of Brandon Thatch.

If you haven’t been a fan for a thousand years like I have, I doubt you have any idea who Thatch is, but let me tell you, for a moment in time, the MMA world believed he was the next great welterweight. Thatch was an enormous 170-pounder with a red mohawk who ran through Justin Edwards and Paulo Thiago (who was a good fighter you have no recollection of as well) in his first two UFC bouts. Then, Thatch was supposed to fight Stephen Thompson, but “Wonderboy” pulled out, and career lightweight Benson Henderson stepped in. Most expected Bendo to get trucked, and instead he dummied Thatch before choking him out in the fourth round. Thatch fought three more times and never won again, leaving the UFC in 2016.

Shout out to Rukus. Hope he’s doing well.

Best base for MMA

“With one of the most prestigious American wrestlers of all time losing rather unceremoniously, what is the true best base for MMA?”

I don’t think we can call Bo Nickal one of the most prestigious American wrestlers of all time. “One of the most prestigious American collegiate wrestlers of all time,” sure. But this country has a long history with wrestling, and Nickal’s numerous amateur accomplishments don’t even put him in the Top-10 of MMA fighters ever, much less just pure wrestlers.

Strongman, obviously.

Reiner de Ridder vs. Dricus du Plessis

“How does a five-round fight between Dricus du Plessis and Reinier de Ridder go?”

God willing, one day we’ll get to see it.

I’m pretty confident when I say that I was one of the first people in MMA media to get behind both de Ridder and du Plessis. I am 100 percent responsible for the MMA Fighting staff starting to put RDR in the middleweight rankings years ago, and my shameless and overt love of du Plessis is well-documented. These guys are two of my five favorite active fighters (the others being Jiri Prochazka, Justin Gaethje, and, of course, Jose Aldo) because they are everything I love about MMA.

Du Plessis and de Ridder are both extremely good at fist-fighting, but they’re also pretty goofy, and that rocks. In a sport full of people trying to become technical savants, DDP and RDR do multiple things a fight that no coach in the world would ever teach their students — and it works! Sure, everyone wants to be Georges St-Pierre, but isn’t it cooler to be just as successful while being a weirdo? 100 percent.

A fight between DDP and RDR is now my second-most wanted fight that could be made today (behind only DDP vs. Jiri), and while I would favor du Plessis by virtue of him being a hoss, that fight is extremely close. Du Plessis is the better kickboxer, but de Ridder isn’t dead in the water there, and the inverse is true on the floor. But the biggest thing that makes me want to see it is that while both men get made fun of for being goofy, they are both extremely smart about fighting.

DDP is an elite game-planner, and RDR is sneaky good at adjusting to fights on the fly. What we’d get is two lovable goofballs fighting at an incredibly elite level that somehow looks on par with your average regional MMA fight. I would love it so much.

Boxing

“Turki needs to ask for a refund, no one delivered over two days.”

All the boxing was bad this weekend, and the less we speak of it, the better. Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford will certainly be a spectacle, and I hope it will be great, but I have some major concerns about the latter.

Thank god for Naoya Inoue. He’s the truth.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer all the good ones! It doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.