Bo Nickal unexpectedly found himself as the center of attention ahead of RAF05. Despite minding his own business from the crowd at the event’s pre-fight press conference, the UFC prospect’s presence was more than enough to attract a dogpile of hostility from headliners Colby Covington and Luke Rockhold.
Nickal was originally slated to compete at RAF05 opposite Yoel Romero, but withdrew from the championship match when Romero missed weight on the day of the event. He watched Covington go on to defeat Rockhold on Saturday with a 12-0 tech fall win after both Covington and Rockhold labeled Nickal a “bum” and slammed him for his inexperience in MMA in their viral presser exchange.
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Speaking Monday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Nickal claimed that both men turned down a match against him for RAF05. Ultimately, Nickal found all of the banter and comments to be unnecessary, unwarranted and overall disrespectful to the wrestling community.
“The sport is bigger than them, and they were just super disrespectful to the entire wrestling community, which is what they started out as,” Nickal said of Covington and Rockhold. “That’s sad to me, because I’ve always loved and appreciated the wrestling community a ton. I felt like they were kind of just crapping on it, and I felt like I needed to say something.”
Covington, in particular, struck a nerve with Nickal as the primary antagonist Covington often is. The opportunity was there for them to settle any differences on the mat, said Nickal. But thanks to each still holding spots on the UFC roster, an MMA fight theoretically has a better chance of happening.
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“At the end of the day, that guy’s a bum. He’s an idiot,” Nickal said. “I would love to get in the cage with him. For me, that fight would be personal. Every single fight for me up to this point has been for sport, and this one would be a little different because I would love to just cave that guy’s head in. I think he’s an idiot.”
Nickal, 28, headed into RAF05 with plenty of momentum after his highlight-reel knockout of Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 322 in November. The fight served as Nickal’s rebound effort after a tough first-career loss to Reinier de Ridder in May 2025. At the RAF05 press conference, Covington used the loss as a major knock on Nickal, criticizing the decorated wrestler for losing to “a Dutch kickboxer.”
After Nickal’s latest win, he already had in mind what he believed to be the perfect time and place for his next UFC appearance — especially with Covington now in his crosshairs.
“I think we do it in the UFC in June [at the White House event], and I can just absolutely rip that guy apart and send him packing and end his career,” Nickal said. “So, that’s what I’m looking forward to doing, because I don’t think that he would ever in a million years wrestle me [for RAF]. As far as fighting, the UFC I think isn’t super happy with him, so there’s a chance they’ll just make him fight me.
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“He said that he was coming up to middleweight. So all the wrestling people there asked him, ‘Why don’t you fight Bo?’ And he was like, ‘He’s not on my level.’ Alright, 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.”
A fight between the two has essentially already booked itself on the heels of this past weekend. Aside from being a budding grudge match, a bout pitting a blue-chip prospect versus a fading veteran like the 37-year-old Covington makes sense for the latter to make his 185-pound debut.
In his career as a multi-time welterweight title challenger, Covington developed into one of MMA’s most outspoken and controversial characters. He’s been loud and proud about his support of U.S. President Donald Trump, whom Nickal also supports. So Nickal intends to put in a good word with the commander-in-chief for a Covington matchup.
“I’m definitely going to hit [Trump] up and tell him to make it happen. Because that guy [Covington] is a fake. He’s a phony,” Nickal said. “He always talks about supporting President Trump, this and that. He only does it to try to antagonize other people. He doesn’t do it because he actually believes it. 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 a lot of people didn’t have the wrestling skills to stand up to him.
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“Other than beating Luke [Rockhold] the other night, he hasn’t won anything in seven years. So I think the guy sucks and I would love to end his career. I don’t think he gets out of the first round with me.”
