"That’s crazy" - Bo Nickal expresses disbelief as high schoolers earn spots on Team USA for World Wrestling Championships

Bo Nickal recently expressed his amazement after two high schoolers earned spots on Team USA for the upcoming World Wrestling Championships. Multiple elite wrestlers, including David Carr, Levi Haines, Wyatt Hendrickson, Trent Hidlay, Spencer Lee, Olympic medalist Kyle Snyder, and world championship medalists like Zahid Valencia, have earned their places in the American squad.

Two high schoolers, PJ Duke and Jax Forrest, have earned their spots to represent Team USA. At the Final X, held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 15, 2025, high school wrestling sensation Duke stunned the 2022 World silver medalist Yianni Diakomihalis to earn a place for his first Senior World Team. The Minisink Valley High School defeated Diakomihalis in the 70 kg division two matches two to one, including a pin in the final bout.

Forrest clinched his spot at the World Championships for the first time on Monday, July 14, at the delayed Final X Wrestle-off in Fargo, North Dakota. The bout between Forrest and Vito Arujau was rescheduled after the latter requested a medical delay. Forrest overpowered the 2023 World Championship gold medalist Arujau in straight matches, 4-3 and 7-2 in the 61 kg freestyle category.

Following the bout, the former freestyle wrestler and current UFC player Nickal expressed his astonishment at the high school wrestlers earning the achievement.

"We have 2 high schoolers on the senior freestyle world team. That’s crazy," Nickal wrote.

The 2025 World Wrestling Championships will be held from September 13 to 21 in Zagreb, Croatia.

Bo Nickal rebuked baseless claims about beef with David Taylor

Bo Nickal during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Bo Nickal recently disapproved of claims made by an insider about his beef with David Taylor. The insider stated that the feud began in 2019 when Taylor pulled out of Final X at the last minute. This made Nickal, who had just then concluded his NCAA career and was about to compete in the 92kg category (non-Olympic weight category), think that he missed his chance to compete at the 86kg category and possibly also the Olympic team.

However, Nickal stated that the claims missed personal details as he had never revealed them.

"Really accurate analysis from an outside perspective, but a lot of private details are missing that I haven’t spoken about publicly. Should I air it all out? @FloWrestling," Nickal wrote.

Bo Nickal and David Taylor are former Nittany Lion Wrestling Club teammates.

Edited by Samya Majumdar