Bo Nickal sent an ominous warning to Gable Steveson about his defense weeks before UFC 331.

Steveson was knocked out in seconds last month in one of the biggest upsets to have ever taken place inside the UFC Octagon.

The hype surrounding the heavyweight prospect was huge, though he’s not the first highly-touted American to suffer a humbling loss.

Nickal was stopped by Reinier de Ridder last year before being able to bounce back, and while he’s rooting for his fellow wrestler, they clearly don’t see eye-to-eye.

Bo Nickal recalls heated conversation with Gable Steveson about a fight between them

Bo Nickal and Gable Steveson have a lot of common ground, with the UFC middleweight recently recalling how they always had a cordial relationship in the past.

This took a turn after the heavyweight prospect joined his fellow highly-decorated American wrestler in MMA’s top promotion.

Steveson and Nickal have previously exchanged words over how a potential wrestling match between them would play out.

In a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, Nickal revealed that this escalated much further when they came face-to-face when competing on the same RAF card back in August.

He recalls approaching Steveson to address the beef between them, which then turned into a conversation about them having a match or even a fight.

“I’m like, ‘What are you even talking about, man? This is insane.’ I remember this so vividly,” Nickal said. “He’s like, ‘I’ll knock you out’.”

Nickal claims that he responded by saying that while he doesn’t know if he could win a wrestling match against him, he told Steveson that he’s confident he would “destroy” him in a fight.

The 6-1 UFC star went on to say that he backed up his point by specifically highlighting Steveson’s defensive weaknesses that will take time for him to improve upon.

This conversation took place just several weeks before UFC 331.

Bo Nickal still hopes that Gable Steveson will bounce back and have success in MMA

Bo Nickal said during the interview that when he approached Gable Steveson, he wanted to get back on the same page as him due to their shared backgrounds.

He is still taking this approach despite what has been said between them this year.

“Big setbacks can lead to big comebacks so I hope that he can figure his stuff out,” he said. “Again, it’s weird, all the stuff between us. But, I still want to root for him and want him to do well.”

Nickal also questioned whether people around Steveson are advising him to go after his fellow American with public comments in order to win fans over.