How Bo Nickal narrowly missed his chance to replace Khamzat Chimaev as UFC Saudi Arabia headliner against Robert Whittaker

Bo Nickal last appeared in the octagon when he opened the main card of UFC 300 by defeating Cody Brundage via second-round submission to improve to 6-0. The rising middleweight prospect recently revealed that he had an opportunity to step in for Khamzat Chimaev and face Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC on ABC 6 this upcoming weekend.

Speaking on his YouTube podcast, Nickals and Dimes, he was asked if he got a call to fly to Saudi Arabia and face the No.3-ranked middleweight on short notice. He responded, stating:

"I did get a call. Unfortunately, I got a call while I was in the mountains of Montana and I didn't get back to cell service for three days. I came back into cell service to a few text messages saying, 'call me back, call me back, call me back' and it was too late. I was like, 'okay'."

His co-host Anthony Cassar responded by claiming he was glad Nickal did not have cell service, prompting the unranked middleweight to respond:

"I know. I'm not gonna disclose numbers, but they were up there. But it was just too late. I couldn't even really consider it because they had already kind of figured everything out the way they were going to do it because I was gone."

Check out Bo Nickal's comments on replacing Khamzat Chimaev below:

While Whittaker would have represented a big step up in competition and the toughest challenge of Nickal's mixed martial arts career, it would have also been a huge opportunity. The unranked middleweight would have had the chance to enter the top five of the divisional rankings - and likely the title picture - with a win.

Bo Nickal's next bout reportedly in the works

Bo Nickal is one of the biggest rising stars in the UFC, with many fans expecting him to reach title contention at some point. While he has had just six professional mixed martial arts bouts, there are plenty who are looking for the unranked middleweight to receive tougher competition than he has at this point.

Although he won't have the opportunity to face Robert Whittaker, Nickal reportedly will face the toughest opponent of his career in his upcoming fight. Home of Fight shared that he is in talks to face Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 309, which is set to take place at Madison Square Garden in November, tweeting:

"🚨 Bo Nickal vs. Rodolfo Vieira is rumoured to take place at UFC 309 on November 9th in New York. (per Bruno Ferreira/ @Sports_Alien_OG )"

Check out the tweet from Home of Fight below:

Vieira is a very experienced grappler who has a 10-2 record in mixed martial arts. He picked up a second-round submission victory over Cody Brundage about a year prior to Nickal doing the same at UFC 300.