Bo Nickal says his fight with Joe Pyfer is moving from UFC 335 to a February main event in Cleveland

Bo Nickal's next fight is getting a new date and a bigger spot on the card.

The former Penn State wrestling star turned UFC middleweight said his matchup with Joe Pyfer has been moved off UFC 335 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. He says it will instead headline a UFC event in Cleveland in February.

The announcement

Nickal broke the news while speaking at a campaign event in Ohio on Wednesday. He told the crowd he had just gotten a call backstage with news he called "pretty exciting." "It actually got moved to February, where I'm going to be main eventing in Cleveland," he said.

Pyfer appeared to back up the news by sharing video of the announcement on social media. The UFC has not yet officially announced the Cleveland card. The promotion's only other visit to the city was UFC 203 in 2016 when Stipe Miocic beat Alistair Overeem to keep the heavyweight title.

A big chance for both men

Nickal won three NCAA Division I titles at Penn State. He started 4-0 in the UFC before an upset loss to Reinier de Ridder. He bounced back with a knockout of Rodolfo Vieira and then stopped Kyle Daukaus at the UFC event at the White House in June.

Pyfer has won four straight fights and stopped former two-time champion Israel Adesanya in March. The winner should move closer to a middleweight title shot.

What's left on UFC 335

The Dec. 12 card at T-Mobile Arena is still headlined by Charles Oliveira defending the BMF title against Diego Lopes. Alex Pereira faces Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event.