Bo Nickal Says Gable Steveson Threatened to KO Him at RAF Event
Bo Nickal details a heated backstage confrontation with Gable Steveson at a Real American Fighting event in Cleveland.
Bo Nickal is telling his side of what went down with Gable Steveson. In a sit-down with Ariel Helwani, Nickal detailed a heated backstage exchange with the Olympic wrestling gold medalist at a Real American Fighting event in Cleveland, claiming Steveson threatened to knock him out.
The confrontation happened after a press conference at the RAF event, where Steveson was on the card to wrestle Tony Cassioppi. Nickal said the two had been cordial throughout their amateur wrestling careers, which made the public trash talk from Steveson surprising.
"Bro, what's your problem? Why are you talking crazy about me?" Nickal recalled saying to Steveson when he confronted him directly.
Nickal said the conversation lasted five to ten minutes with several people nearby. The discussion turned to a hypothetical wrestling match and MMA fight, with Steveson predicting he would knock Nickal out. Nickal said he was unsure about a wrestling outcome but felt confident MMA would favor him, drawing on his own fight against Reinier de Ridder as evidence that learning to avoid strikes takes time and real competition experience.
When Steveson later suffered a knockout loss, Nickal said the result stung even as a rival. "I felt bad," Nickal told Helwani, adding that the loss reflected the exact defensive concerns he had raised but that he still wanted Steveson to do well and hoped for a comeback.
Nickal rejected suggestions that Jon Jones was behind the beef between them, describing Jones as motivational and complimentary. He suggested someone may have advised Steveson to criticize him publicly but named no one, per MiddleEasy.
This is wrestling beef spilling over into the cage, and I am here for it. Two Olympic-caliber wrestlers talking about knocking each other out is the kind of crossover drama that sells fights.
But here's the thing: Nickal was right. He told Steveson that learning to defend strikes takes time, and then Steveson went out and got knocked out. That's not trash talk, that's just truth. The transition from elite wrestling to MMA striking defense is brutal, and nobody skips the learning curve.
I'd watch Nickal vs Steveson in a heartbeat. Book it in a cage, not a hallway in Cleveland. Both guys have the wrestling pedigree, and the personal beef makes it a real fight. Get it done.
