Bo Nickal and Yoel Romero, two highly decorated athletes with backgrounds in both wrestling and mixed martial arts, will clash at Real American Freestyle 4 (RAF 4) on December 20th at the Fishers Event Center in Fishers, Indiana. The announcement came Saturday during the RAF 3 event in chicago from Izzy Martinez.
Nickal (8-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) recently secured a knockout victory at UFC 322 and is returning to wrestling after winning the inaugural RAF light heavyweight title in August with a win over Jacob Cardenas. Prior to his MMA career,Nickal was a three-time NCAA National Champion at Penn State. He attempted to qualify for the 2020 Olympic team but ultimately transitioned to professional fighting.
Romero, 48, boasts an impressive wrestling pedigree of his own, earning a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and a World Championship title in 1999. He has continued to compete in combat sports, including Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) and Dirty boxing. Notably, Romero is one of the few competitors to defeat Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson, who later became the head coach at Penn State, where he guided Nickal to his three NCAA championships.
RAF 4 will also feature a heavyweight title bout between Wyatt Hendrickson, a recent NCAA champion, and mason Parris, a 2024 Olympian.Former UFC champion Belal Muhammad is also scheduled to compete against David Carr on the card.
