Bo Nickal ‘Disappointed’ to miss UFC 294 fight with Khamzat Chimaev: ‘They don’t want me to smash their boy’
Undefeated wrestling ace, Bo Nickal has revealed he never received any contact from promotional brass regarding a potential slot-in, short-notice fight with Khamzat Chimaev next weekend at UFC 294 – claiming he would likely have “smashed” the Chechen-born finisher with ease.
Nickal, a decorated amateur record, boasts an unbeaten 5-0 professional wrestler, landing a pair of consecutive stoppage victories in two middleweight outings since landing in the UFC back in March of this year.
A product of Dana White’s Contender Series amid a pair of outings on the show, Nickal debuted with a first round arm-triangle submission win over Jamie Pickett, before stopping short-notice replacement Val Woodburn with a thunderous opening round TKO inside just 38 seconds back in July at UFC 290 during International Fight Week.
Requiring a replacement opponent ahead of his UFC 294 return next weekend in a co-headliner, Chimaev was originally slated to fight one-time title challenger, Paulo Costa, however, a bursitis infection ruled the Brazilian from the bout.
In place of Costa came former undisputed welterweight champion and former pound-for-pound number one, Kamaru Usman – who makes his first outing at the middleweight limit, following a title fight loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 286 back in March.
Bo Nickal reveals no fight offer to meet Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294
However, despite calls from some fans for Chimaev to take on the above-mentioned Colorado uber-prospect, Nickal on just 10 days’ notice, the latter has revealed the UFC never approached him with an offer to fight the undefeated finisher.
“I was a little disappointed they [the UFC] didn’t ask me [to fight Khamzat Chimaev],” Bo Nickal said on his YouTube channel. “They didn’t ask me to step in there. I was expected at least an ask like, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?’ But no, just nothing. Nothing from the UFC, so it is what it is.”
“I’m guessing that they didn’t want me to roll over into Abu Dhabi on like 10 days’ notice and smash their boy in front of his home crowd or something,” Bo Nickal explained. “That’s a fight that needs to have a proper buildup and whatnot, so I get that. It was just interesting to me because I probably got today – I don’t even know how many comments and DMs and this and that.”
Would you like to see Bo Nickal fight Khamzat Chimaev in the future?
