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- What: UFC Des Moines Co-Main Event
- Who: Reinier de Ridder Vs. Bo Nickal
- Date: Saturday, May 3, 2025
- Location: Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa
- Time: Prelims (7:00 p.m. ET), Main Card (10:00 p.m. ET)
- How to Watch: ESPN+, ESPN2
The UFC has not held a fight card in Iowa since 2000. That changes on Saturday, May 3, when the promotion heads to Des Moines for the first time for the UFC Des Moines fight card. The UFC Fight Night event features a bantamweight main event between former interim UFC bantamweight title challenger Cory Sandhagen and former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo. Meanwhile, in the evening’s co-main event, rising UFC middleweights Reinier de Ridder and Bo Nickal meet in a pivotal 185-pound scrap. Here is some background on De Ridder and Nickal before we look at the betting breakdown for the UFC Des Moines Fight Night event.
Reinier de Ridder (19-2) is the No. 13 fighter in the official UFC middleweight rankings. He is 2-0 in the UFC with two submission wins. De Ridder is coming off a January first-round stoppage of Kevin Holland.
Bo Nickal (7-0) is currently unranked with the UFC. He is 4-0 with the promotion with two submissions, one knockout, and one decision. Nickal last fought in November, beating Paul Craig via decision.
Before we look at the best bets for Reinier de Ridder Vs. Bo Nickal on the UFC Des Moines fight card, check out the best UFC betting sites and where you can find our betting picks for the UFC 315 main event.
UFC Des Moines Co-Main Event: Reinier de Ridder Vs. Bo Nickal betting picks
| Fighters |  |  |  |
| Reinier de Ridder | +225 | +225 | +226 |
| Bo Nickal | -275 | -275 | -275 |
UFC Des Moines: Reinier de Ridder betting breakdown
Reinier de Ridder inked a deal with the UFC in September 2024. At the time, De Ridder was on a 1-2 run. He had lost both his ONE middleweight and light heavyweight titles to Anatoly Malykhin in 2022 and 2024 and was coming off a TKO win over Magomedmurad Khasaev on a UAE Warriors card in July 2024 when he signed with the UFC. De Ridder, an experienced grappler, won his ONE titles with wins over Aung La N Sang in 2020 and 2021.
In his UFC debut, De Ridder’s striking did not look good. He was slow and easy to read against Gerald Meerschaert, who landed 55 percent of his significant strikes against De Ridder in that fight. De Ridder did not waste time with striking against Holland. He went right after a takedown in that fight and patiently broke down Holland before finding an opening to secure a rear naked choke that ended things in the first round. De Ridder’s striking offense and defense both need work.
With only two fights in the UFC, De Ridder’s stats should be looked at through that lens. He lands an average of 3.28 significant strikes per minute with an accuracy of 57 percent. He absorbs 2.69 significant strikes per minute with a defense of 38 percent. De Ridder averages 6.89 takedowns per minute with an accuracy of 46 percent. He stopped both of Meerschaert’s takedown attempts.
UFC Des Moines: Bo Nickal betting breakdown
Bo Nickal has only been with the UFC since March 2023, following two wins on Dana White’s Contender Series, but the confident 29-year-old is already being looked at as a future UFC middleweight champion.Some of those expectations have to do with Nickal’s background as a three-time NCAA wrestling champion under Cael Sanderson while at Penn State. Additionally, Nickal has transitioned well to MMA, showing he’s not just a wrestler but a fighter who has a developing striking game.
While Nickal is developing his striking, his goal remains to get the fight to the mat, where he can use his wrestling and growing jiu-jitsu skills to look for a submission finish. Nickal was unhappy with his UFC 300 win over Cody Brundage, his first fight to go past the 2:54 mark of the first round. In his most recent bout, Nickal looked to use his striking against Craig, refusing to shoot a single takedown. His striking showed some improvement in that fight, but it was sloppy. If he throws sloppy strikes, De Ridder will be able to get takedowns. The question then becomes will De Ridder be able to keep Nickal on the mat?
Nickal lands 2.65 significant strikes per minute with an accuracy of 63 percent. His striking defense is 64 percent, and he gets hit 1.86 times per minute. Nickal averages 3.61 takedowns per 15 minutes. His takedown accuracy is 50 percent. No one has shot a takedown on Nickal.
Best Bets:UFC Des Moines Co-Main Event – Reinier de Ridder Vs. Bo Nickal
Bo Nickal seemed to use his matchup with Paul Craig as a warm up for this fight. By that I mean he used his striking to battle a grappler. Look for him to do the same in this fight, but to be better on the feet than he was in that scrap. I expect Reinier de Ridder will look for as many takedowns as he can get and that Nickal will be able to thwart those attempts.
Both of De Ridder’s losses have come via knockout and while Nickal’s striking is not his strong suit, he can land with power.
The betting pick is for Bo Nickal to beat Reiner de Ridder by decision, but there is a chance that he scores a knockout.
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