Bo Nickal has a chance to enter the middleweight rankings following confirmation of the Penn State wrestling icon’s next Octagon assignment.

Nickal, who is considered by many to be one of the top prospects in mixed martial arts, will fight the former One Championship titleholder Reinder de Ridder in a three-round contest as the UFC’s May 3 event in Des Moines, Iowa, it has been confirmed.

Nickal, 29, is 7-0 in his developing MMA career and has won four straight fights on the main roster following a two-fight apprenticeship on the Dana White Contender Series  following a successful crossover from collegiate wrestling in which he became a three-time NCAA Division I national champion.

He scored his most high profile win in his new sport last November where he triumphed over the experienced Paul Craig by unanimous decision, in what was his first bout to have required input from the cageside judges.

De Ridder, meanwhile, is a former two division champion at ONE Championship (185 and 205-pounds) and sports a 19-2 record in his career to this point. He is a perfect 2-0 in the Octagon, having scored submission wins over Gerald Meerschaert and Kevin Holland since entering the organisation in November of last year.

Considered one of the most potent submission threats at middleweight, the 13th-ranked De Ridder scored 13 of his 19 career wins by tapout.

Separately, it was also confirmed that Cory Sandhagen will fight Deiveson Figueiredo in the main event of the May 3 fight card which will also feature the return of hometown fighter Jeremy Stephens against Welsh lightweight Mason Jones.