Bo Nickal walked into UFC Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C. with the White House just feet away and backed it up in the cage, stopping Kyle Daukaus to improve to 9-1.
Bo Nickal didn’t just win at UFC Freedom 250 on Sunday night in Washington, D.C.—he did it with the White House so close it felt like part of the venue.
Nickal first visited the White House in 2019 as a member of the NCAA Division 1 collegiate wrestling champion Penn State Nittany Lions team. Later, he built a famous friendship with President Donald Trump, even becoming golfing buddies. Seven years on. that relationship carried him back into the spotlight: he fought before the President with the White House mere feet away in the background.
Inside the action, Nickal moved fast. After an early takedown, he landed an elbow from Kyle Daukaus’s guard that opened a cut over Daukaus’s left eye. A break followed—some referee intervention—before Nickal returned to his rhythm.
Back on the feet, Nickal landed a left hand that sent Daukaus to the canvas. Daukaus curled up as the referee halted the action, and the night belonged to the rising UFC middleweight contender.
With the win, Nickal improved to 9-1.
Daukaus wasn’t a random opponent in terms of skill—he has been fighting his way back into form. The American fighter is on his second stint in the UFC after mixed results from 2020 to 2022 over a seven-fight stretch. He earned his rebound in Cage Fury FC. winning the middleweight title in 2023 and defending it twice in 2024 before earning a second shot in the UFC.
In 2025, Daukaus started strong, going 2-0. He stopped Michel Pereira with a 43-second knockout in August and followed that with a 50-second submission over Gerald Meerschaert in November. He hadn’t been finished since the end of his first UFC run. when he suffered back-to-back TKO losses—but this time he ran into a sharp counter from Nickal.
Nickal’s confidence has grown even more since his only MMA loss. In March 2025, Reinier de Ridder finished him with knees to the body. Since that defeat. Nickal has made marked improvements in the striking department. and the way the fight unfolded against Daukaus showed how those changes translate into fight-ending moments.
Before he stopped Daukaus, Nickal was riding momentum from a November knockout win over Rodolfo Viera, a multiple-time world jiu-jitsu champion. In that bout, the grapplers traded strikes until Nickal, 30, finished it with an epic head kick knockout.
There’s already a sense of where Nickal’s next step is headed. Entering the prime of his career, he is expected to start pushing toward the top of the division.
At Wednesday’s media day. the Colorado native was asked about a potential future matchup with former champion Khamzat Chimaev—someone Nickal has drawn comparisons to at points in his career. Nickal’s answer was direct: if the UFC approached him about a Chimaev pairing, he’d “absolutely” accept the matchup.
Bo Nickal UFC Freedom 250 Kyle Daukaus Donald Trump White House Khamzat Chimaev middleweight contender Penn State Nittany Lions Reinier de Ridder Rodolfo Viera