Mike Nickels
- Fighting out of
- Ocala
- Country
- 🇺🇸United States
- Weight class
- Light Heavyweight
- Height
- 6'4" · 193 cm
- Stance
- Orthodox
- Last fight
- Jul 7, 2007
Career striking
UFC careerStriking zones
Per-15-minute breakdown — where this fighter lands, and where they get hit.
Career totals — landed / attempted
| Zone | Per 15 | Landed | Attempted | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head | 36.1 | 13 | 31 | 42% |
| Body | 27.8 | 10 | 14 | 71% |
| Leg | 2.8 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| Zone | Per 15 | Landed | Attempted | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head | 11.1 | 4 | 13 | 31% |
| Body | 0.0 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
| Leg | 5.6 | 2 | 2 | 100% |
Per-15-minute rates and totals come from UFCStats fight-totals across this fighter’s UFC career. Percentile context is computed against every fighter currently assigned to this weight class with at least two recorded UFC bouts. “Absorbed” percentiles are inverted so “top of division” always means better outcome.
Derived metrics
Computed from UFC career statsCareer grappling
UFC careerGrappling
Per-15-minute breakdown of wrestling output and ground control.
Career totals — landed / attempted, control time
| Takedowns | 4 / 5 |
| Submission attempts | 1 |
| Control time | 3:15 |
| TDs defended | 0 / 0 |
| Control absorbed | 1:06 |
Rates above are per 15 minutes of UFC fight time (5min total). Value colors reflect the per-15 rate’s percentile against the current weight class baseline; raw totals without a division reference stay neutral.
Pace & fade
How this fighter's work rate holds up as a fight wears on — round-by-round output (striking, takedown attempts, and control time combined), and whether they fade. The fade % compares round-3 output to round 1 over bouts that reached the third round.
Nickels hasn't reached the third round in enough UFC bouts to read a reliable fade pattern — most of their fights end early. The round-by-round pace below is shown for what rounds there are.
Not enough rounds with per-round data to plot a pace curve — this fighter rarely sees the later rounds.
Full per-round breakdown
| Round | Output / min | Sig landed / min | Sig absorbed / min | TD att / min | Control | Bouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | 9.6 | 4.4 | 1.1 | 0.93 | 60% | 2 |
Output / minis the headline work rate — significant strikes landed, plus 3 per takedown attempt, plus one per 15 seconds of control — so a takedown-and-grind round isn’t scored as idle the way bare striking volume would. The remaining columns are its components. Per-round rates use UFCStats per-round data (available for ~95% of bouts since 2008). Each round’s rates are averaged only over bouts that reached that round, so the bout count shrinks as rounds deepen. The final round of a finished fight is pro-rated by its actual length.
Schedule Score
Who they've faced × what they've done. Percentile-ranked across every UFC fighter w/ ≥3 resolved bouts. Recent fights weighted heavier.
Every UFC opponent is scored by where they were ranked and what their UFC record was at the time of that fight — not where they sit today. Schedule strength is the recency-weighted average of opponent quality; quality wins scores actual results against that schedule (finishes count more than splits, losses cost the full opp quality). The headline is a percentile rank against every UFC fighter with at least three resolved bouts. Note: UFC ranking data is sparse before December 2018, so legacy-era fighters score from opponent UFC record-at-time when ranks are missing.
- Building3+ UFC fights, ≥.40 win rate
- UnprovenFewer than 3 fights, or sub-.40 win rate
| Tier | Bouts | Record | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building | 1 | 0-1 | 0% |
| Unproven | 1 | 1-0 | 100% |
All bouts — opponent quality bout-by-bout
| Res | Opponent | Tier | Score | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L | Stephan Bonnar | Building | 18 | Jul 7, 2007 |
| W | Wes Combs | Unproven | 8 | Jun 24, 2006 |
Per-bout quality scoring: champion = 100; same-division ranks 1–5 = 90 → 78 linear; ranks 6–15 = 75 → 60 linear; cross-division champion = 78; cross-division ranked = 45; title-fight challenger (no rank signal) = 50, bumped to 65 when opp had an elite career UFC record at the time. Unranked opponents are scored on UFC record-at-time (long-tenured vet 60, contender-level 45, established 30, building 18, unproven 8). P4P top-10 at time adds +5; top-3 adds +8 (capped at 100). The Schedule Score combines schedule strength (65%) and quality wins (35%), then is held toward a rookie baseline for fighters with limited UFC experience so a thin résumé reads honestly low.
Career cohorts
2 resolved UFC boutsPerformance broken down by situation — camp length, response to the previous result, title-fight presence, and rematches. Computed across every completed UFC bout.
Method of victory & defeat
1-1 UFCFinishes
KO history
UFC fights only — knockout power, chin durability, and when the last finish landed. Genuine knockouts are kept separate from cut, injury, and corner stoppages.
Never finished by strikesin the UFC
Activity & layoff
When this fighter last competed, how often they've been active, and how that reads against active peers in their division.