UFC Des Moines video: Reinier de Ridder flattens Bo Nickal with brutal body shot knockout, calls out Sean Strickland

Reinier de Ridder brought the hype around Bo Nickal to a staggering halt on Saturday after scoring a brutal body shot knockout to end the UFC Des Moines co-main event in dramatic fashion.

In a fight that was billed as wrestling against grappling, de Ridder showed off his superior striking as he continuously battered Nickal with knees every time they engaged in the clinch. The constant barrage paid off with de Ridder lining up a devastating knee that crushed Nickal to the body as he tried to move away and instead he crumbled to the canvas.

The referee rushed in to stop the contest with the end coming at 1:53 in the second round as de Ridder ends Nickal’s undefeated run to start his career.

“I was just going to say, I’ve been spending so much time in the U.S., I wanted to see if I was still Dutch,” de Ridder joked about his striking to set up the knockout.

“I wanted to say this is the best American wrestling you have, right? Now give you the best American striker. [Sean] Strickland, you’re up, buddy! Let’s go.”

Prior to his callout, de Ridder was actually already showing superior control as he kept frustrating Nickal in every facet of the fight.

When the action started it was Nickal throwing heavy hands but de Ridder was constantly threatening with the takedown as the middleweights battled for position against the cage. Nickal eventually scored a slick reversal to drag the fight to the canvas but de Ridder scrambled out of a guillotine choke attempt to then land on top.

From there, de Ridder maintained control for a few moments but Nickal eventually worked his way free to get back to the feet.

As the fight moved into the second round, de Ridder once again welcomed the clinch as he started launching some hard knees to the body. Nickal seemed labored in his movement as he struggled to maintain position but he was still winging big punches while trying to back de Ridder off.

Unfortunately it didn’t work as de Ridder fired right back at him with more precision including the massive knee strike up the middle that connected directly to Nickal’s midsection. The three-time NCAA champion wrestler immediate dropped the canvas and referee Mike Beltran jumped into stop the fight to prevent him from receiving further punishment.

It was a huge moment for de Ridder as he moved to 3-0 in the UFC but more importantly he scored a victory over one of the most highly touted prospects in recent history.

Now he might actually get to pick his shot, especially with de Ridder already calling for a fight against a former champion in Sean Strickland.