Bo Nickal explains why he couldn’t accept Robert Whittaker’s fight offer at UFC Saudi Arabia

Bo Nickal failed to save the day when the UFC asked him to replace Khamzat Chimaev for the upcoming fight against former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.

The last-minute proposal came after Chimaev abandoned his UFC Saudi Arabia card on Saturday due to an illness that prevented him from competing. In Chimaev’s place, the UFC finally convinced highly-touted contender Ikram Aliskerov to accept the fight, and he now faces Whittaker in the main event as the UFC travels to Saudi Arabia for the first ever times.

As the UFC scrambled to find the best possible option to headline the card, Nickal claims he received a call, but he didn’t find out until it was too late.

“I got a call, yeah,” Nickal revealed on his YouTube channel. “Unfortunately, I received a call while I was in the mountains of Montana and didn’t get cell service again for three days. I got back to cell service with a few texts saying, “Call me back, call me back, call me back!” » And it was too late.

Nickal said the offer to fight Whittaker was so real that the UFC began discussing an increase in his salary to accept the match on short notice. Unfortunately, the multiple-time NCAA wrestling champion was unable to negotiate his scholarship because he couldn’t respond until the UFC had already reached a solution with Aliskerov.

“I won’t divulge numbers, but they were up there,” Nickal said. “But it was simply too late. I couldn’t even really think about it because they already had it all figured out, how they were going to do it, because I was gone.

“Honestly, I don’t want to go fight in Saudi Arabia. It’s really bullshit.

As for the new matchup, Nickal actually thinks Aliskerov has what it takes to pull off an upset and beat a veteran middleweight like Whittaker in his third UFC fight.

In his first two appearances in the octagon, Aliskerov made short work of Phil Hawes and Warlley Alves, scoring knockouts in both fights. Facing someone like Whittaker represents a huge step up in competition, but Nickal believes Aliskerov is up to the challenge.

“I think Ikram is probably going to win,” Nickal said. “It depends on his level of preparation and all that. I just think style-wise, Ikram will probably win.

As for Chimaev’s future, Nickal admitted that interest in the undefeated Chechen has started to fade due to Chimaev’s inactivity. Since the start of 2021, Chimaev has only recorded four fights. Chimaev has already been touted as a potential bogeyman in two different divisions, but Nickal feels like much of that shine has been tarnished, and giving up another fight doesn’t help the cause much by Chimaev.

“This guy is losing his aura a little bit,” Nickal said of Chimaev. “He just needs to keep winning and not do this stupid stuff. I don’t think he trains too much, I think he parties too much. I don’t know what else it would be?