Dan Hardy: Tresean Gore matchup designed for 'Bo Nickal to pick up another win'

Dan Hardy sees Tresean Gore as a tailor-made matchup for Bo Nickal.

Nickal (4-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) meets Gore (4-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 290 pay-per-view main card opener at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.

Standout wrestler Nickal is one of the most highly touted prospects in the sport, but Hardy thinks the UFC has been giving him favorable matchups.

“I kind of feel like this one’s been matched for Bo Nickal to pick up another win,” Hardy said on his YouTube channel. “I mean, 4-0 against 4-2. I’m very excited for Bo Nickal, but it’s like, sometimes I feel like fighters join the UFC a little bit too soon, and then you can kind of tell that they’re curating their career too much, if that makes sense.”

Nickal has finished all four of his professional fights in less than a round, and Hardy expects another quick finish for the three-time NCAA Division-I national wrestling champion.

“I’m kind of expecting Bo Nickal to make the most of the pressure that Tresean Gore’s going to probably put him under,” Hardy said. “It makes no sense for Tresean Gore to back up and give him any space because then he’s going to get pushed around and Bo Nickal is going to set up his level change.

“Ultimately, I just think this fight’s going to be on the floor within a minute, and Bo Nickal is probably going to be able to beat him up from top position to soften him up and then attack some kind of neck attack, anaconda, arm triangle, rear-naked choke, et cetera, et cetera.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.