Bo Nickal wants to face Colby Covington inside the Octagon to put an end to their recent feud.
Nickal (8-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) and Covington (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) exchanged heated words in the aftermath of RAF 5 on Saturday. Nickal had been scheduled to wrestle former UFC standout Yoel Romero at the event but declined the matchup after the “Soldier of God” missed weight.
Covington did compete at the event, earning a victory over Luke Rockhold, and used the post-event press conference to mock Nickal for refusing to step onto the mat.
Although Covington dismissed the idea of fighting Nickal inside the Octagon, he did reveal plans to move up to 185 pounds upon his return to the UFC. Nickal, in turn, has expressed interest in facing “Chaos” should the promotion stage an event at the White House this summer.
“I think we do it in the UFC in June, and I can just absolutely rip that guy apart and send him packing and end his career,” Nickal told Ariel Helwani on Monday. “That's what I'm looking forward to doing because I don't think that he would ever in a million years wrestle me. But as far as fighting (goes) the UFC I think is not super happy with him. So, probably, there's a chance that they'll just make him fight me.
“As we were doing the press conference post-event, he said that he's coming up to middleweight. So all the wrestling people there asked him, said, 'Why don't you fight Bo?' And he was like, 'I don't know.' He's not on my level.
“It's like, 'All right, bro, I'm not on your level. I'm an easy check.' So let's get in there and I'll embarrass you in front of the entire world.”
With a dearth of American-born champions on the UFC roster at the moment, Nickal feels that the organization’s president Dana White could be convinced to book the two US nationals to face each other at the gala event.
“I'm definitely going to hit him up and tell him to make it happen because I think that guy's a fake,” Nickal said. “He's a phony. He always talks about supporting President Trump and this and that. He only does it to try to antagonize other people. He doesn't do it because it's what he actually believes in. This guy's a fraud. He's a JUCO bum. He couldn't hack it in wrestling. He was fortunate to get into MMA at a time where, you know, a lot of people didn't have the wrestling skills to stand up to him.
“Other than beating Luke the other night, he hasn't won anything in seven years. So I think the guy sucks and I would love to just end his career. I don't think he gets out of the first round with me.”
