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Bo Nickal admits he was somewhat disappointed to not even get a phone call about stepping in to face Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294.
With Paulo Costa forced to withdraw due to an infection on his elbow, former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman stepped in to face Chimaev. While many fighters were likely contacted about the opportunity, Nickal said he wasn’t.
“I was disappointed they didn’t ask me to step in there,” he said on his YouTube channel. “I was expecting at least an ask like, ‘Hey, you want to to this?’ But, no. Just nothing. Nothing from the UFC. It is what it is.
“I’m guessing they didn’t want me to roll over into Abu Dhabi on 10 days’ notice and smash their boy in front of his home crowd or something.
“They didn’t even ask, it wasn’t an option,” Nickal continued. “Like I said, there was probably a lot that went into that decision so we’ll do it another time. It’s a good fight [between Chimaev and Usman]. I think it will be competitive based on his [UFC 273] fight with [Gilbert] Burns. I do think that he overlooked Burns, but also Usman is pretty good — a little older. I’ll definitely watch in back on the replay a few days after it happens.”
Nickal believes he is on a future collision course with Chimaev, but he understands why the promotion would want to take the time to build it up.
Thus far, Nickal has barely broken a sweat in his pro MMA career, earning two first-round finishes of Jamie Pickett and Val Woodburn in his first UFC appearances after earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series.
As far as Usman stepping in, Nickal feels the fight is intriguing, but he isn’t sure how long Usman will stick around at 185.
“Not too much of an upside, but for Usman, he’s already been a defending champion, and then just lost back-to-back [fights],” Nickal said. “He’s not really in a great position. But it should be a good fight.
“[Usman’s] not going to stay at middleweight. I’ll bet any amount of money he doesn’t stay at middleweight, but maybe [if he gets Sean Strickland for the title]. That would be crazy because he’s never really been in my radar.”
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