“It's crazy that he doesn't want to fight me so bad that he ended his entire career,” Bo Nickal said Wednesday, accusing Colby Covington of retiring to avoid a matchup Nickal publicly pushed for at the White House.
Nickal delivered the charge at the UFC Freedom 250 media day as he prepares to fight this Sunday on the South Lawn. He said he had publicly challenged Covington to make the bout happen — and urged Covington to call UFC brass — at a moment when Nickal had not yet signed the contract for his current opponent, Kyle Daukaus.
“Probably a smart move by his part,” Nickal added, then shifted to the personal thrill of the venue: "I'm grateful for all the opportunities I've been given to compete at big events and exciting places, so this is definitely the biggest and most exciting that I've been a part of." He repeated that sentiment, telling reporters: "Overall, just feeling really grateful for the opportunity, and yeah, it's a blessing. I want to make the most of it."
The claim lands against a recent public history. Earlier in the year Nickal and Covington traded insults at an RAF press conference, and Covington has long criticized fighters tied to American Top Team — the gym where old wounds still linger after an ugly split years ago. At the same time, Covington had been asking to fight and then made the surprising move to retire, a sequence Nickal pointedly highlights as evidence of avoidance.
That contradiction is the story's friction: Nickal insists Covington walked away because he did not want to face him, yet the timeline includes Covington actively seeking bouts before announcing retirement. The two facts sit uneasily together and mean the motive behind Covington's abrupt decision remains unsettled.
Nickal did not let the distraction derail the preview of his upcoming fight. He said he respects Daukaus, noting the arc of his opponent's career: "It says a lot to be able to, you know, make it back to the UFC after being cut." Nickal reminded the room that Daukaus was cut in 2022 and re-signed in 2025, and added, "So he's a tough guy and has a lot of good skills. Looking forward to going out and putting on a dominant performance on Sunday."
The matchup with Daukaus is moving forward as scheduled; Nickal said the bout remained on even after his public challenge to Covington. Daukaus carries a 17-4 overall record and a 4-4 mark in the UFC, while Nickal enters with an 8-1 MMA record and a 5-1 UFC ledger.
Nickal's accusation reframes the White House card for a personal rivalry that briefly flared earlier this year and now shadows the South Lawn event. The more immediate question — not yet answered in public — is what specifically prompted Covington to retire at a time when he appeared to be seeking fights, including bouts slotted after the Dillon Danis loss that set up his May 30 clash with Chris Weidman (
For now, Nickal is leaving room for the unresolved while he focuses on Sunday: he called the chance to fight on the South Lawn an honor and said he wants to make the most of the spotlight. He will step into the octagon against Daukaus and, by his telling, force the only kind of answer that really matters in the sport — performance.
