Bo Nickal is not holding back in his ongoing feud with Colby Covington, accusing the former interim champion of lying about a potential White House showdown.
The tension between both fighters has been building for weeks, but it escalated after Covington publicly denied ever receiving an offer to fight Nickal at the upcoming UFC Freedom 250 event.
Nickal quickly fired back.
“Colby is a liar,” Nickal said. “There are text message receipts of him being offered the fight. I also saw him weigh in at RAF with my own eyes at 198 pounds. He will never fight me because he knows I’ll kill him.”
The back-and-forth comes as the UFC finalizes plans for its historic White House card, headlined by a lightweight title clash between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje. The event will also feature an interim heavyweight title bout between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane.
Nickal, one of the promotion’s fastest-rising middleweights, is now set to face Kyle Daukaus on the same card after the Covington fight failed to materialize.
Covington, however, has a very different version of events.
“That’s 100 percent fake news,” Covington said. “The fight was never offered at the White House. I said I’d fight anyone, but I’m not moving up to middleweight for no reason. Why would I fight a guy who’s never headlined?”
The weight difference remains a major sticking point. Covington typically competes at welterweight, while Nickal has been campaigning at middleweight and pushing hard for the matchup.
Nickal insists the fight was there to be made and that Covington turned it down.
Meanwhile, Covington is looking to bounce back after a stoppage loss to Joaquin Buckley, while Nickal returns following a statement win in his last outing.
For now, the fight remains off the table. But the war of words between Bo Nickal and Covington continues to heat up, and it is clear this rivalry is far from over.
