Former Penn State national champion wrestler Bo Nickal got some special treatment ahead of his promotional debut on Saturday at UFC 285.

The pay-per-view card is headlined by a major return within the sport which means there will be lots of people buying the show. In those instances, the UFC likes to plug up-and-coming stars who they believe in so this speaks volumes to what they see in Nickal.

In the video posted by the UFC, they followed Nickal back to State College as he trains for his upcoming bout. They interviewed his former coach Cael Sanderson who shared his thoughts on his star pupil and how great he thinks he can be.

“When Bo Nickal was here, the team won every dual meet for four straight years,” Sanderson said. “We won the nationals all four years, he had so many big moments for us…college wrestlers aways have an advantage transitioning to mixed martial arts and guys like Bo Nickal have a very big advantage.”

Nickal was an All-American and national champion individually for all four years he was on campus which has the promotion advertising him as a “wrestling phenom.”

Nickal added, “Fighting in the UFC was always in the back of my mind during my time at Penn State.”

Bo Nickal fights against Jamie Pickett who has seven times the professional bouts he does. despite that, Nickal remains a heavy favorite and will be kicking off the card when the pay-per-view starts at 10 PM EST/7 PM PST.

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Story originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire