Nickal, an elite wrestler, took de Ridder down in the first round, but an eventual scramble saw him wind up on his back in a rarity. In the second, de Ridder stayed on his feet against Nickal and started working knees and punches to the body. They started to take their toll, and one final one crumbled Nickal and his unbeaten record.

The former two-division ONE Championship titleholder shocked Bo Nickal on Saturday night, knocking out the MMA super-prospect with a barrage of second-round strikes in UFC Des Moines' middleweight co-main event at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

De Ridder stopped Nickal, and the expectations around a rising contender many considered a future UFC champion