Skye Nicolson responded to recent criticisms from MVP’s Nakisa Bidarian in an appearance on The Ariel x Ade Show from DAZN.

Bidarian recently attempted to shoot down Nicolson’s call for a shot at unified WBC, IBF, and WBO super bantamweight titleholder Ellie Scotney, who is promoted by MVP. Nicolson remains one of the relatively few notable women’s fighters who isn’t promoted by MVP, as she is still with Matchroom Boxing.

Nicolson moved down from the featherweight division in her most recent fight on July 5, but didn’t get down to the 122 lb limit for super bantamweight, instead weighing in at 124 lbs. This practice of giving a full 1-2 lbs of contracted weight over a normal divisional limit is very common in non-title fights across boxing, but Bidarian chose to hone in on that and paint it as something disrespectful on Nicolson’s behalf.

It’s worth noting, too, that her opponent, Carla Gonzales, also did not make the normal 122 lb limit.

“Is 124.2 a weight class? Number one, if you’re a fighter who wants to compete at 122 lbs, demonstrate that you can make 122 lbs,” Bidarian said recently on the same show. “Don’t put your head up high and say, ‘I got a knockout against a fighter,’ when you totally disregarded the weight. Embarassing.

“Number two, show that you can actually sell some tickets. Headline a card! Show some viewership! Do something! Social media is awesome, it’s great, you do well on social media. Love it. But Ellie Scotney’s the champ, she calls the shots.”

Nicolson (13-1, 2 KO) kind of laughed off Bidarian’s comments after being shown the clip, then got to her response.

“The fight was agreed at 124, it wasn’t a title fight. It happens very often, you box a pound or two above championship weight when it’s not a championship fight,” she said. “I actually weighed in at 123.9, I think? So I don’t know where he got 124.2 from. I did make weight comfortably, and I will ‘prove’ that I can make the weight in this next one. This fight is agreed at 122, so I’m very excited for that.”

Nicolson, 29, is set to make a quick turnaround with an August 23 fight at home in Australia, facing Urvashi Singh (12-3, 7 KO), a 30-year-old from India. That fight will have a minor IBF title, important for rankings, on the line.

But her focus is getting back into world title fights as quickly as possible, and Scotney (11-0, 0 KO) is probably the biggest fight she can make.

“I love the Ellie fight. I know she’s going for undisputed right now, so I don’t blame her for that being her main focus, but I’m always going to be open to that fight and chasing that fight,” she continued. “I’m going to be chasing the champions and the beltholders at 122 and 126.”

Nicolson also denied that she or her team ever “rejected” an offer to fight Scotney when both were under the Matchroom banner, and further confirmed that she’s still open to fighting at featherweight, particularly if a rematch with Tiara Brown does come up. Brown upset Nicolson to win the WBC featherweight title on March 22.

“I was told that Tiara had no interest in a rematch. There was no rematch clause, being a mandatory defense,” Nicolson said. “I was told there was not going to be a rematch clause either way for whoever won the fight. For me, I wasn’t going to sit and wait until Tiara felt ready, I wanted to get back in the gym, I wanted to get back in the ring.”

Nicolson also did show some appreciation for MVP, and joked a bit about one aspect of Bidarian’s comments.

“I appreciate the compliment about how good my social media is, thank you. I work hard on that,” she said with a smile. “It’s nice to know you’re watching, because you don’t follow. You can press the little follow button if you do enjoy my social media.”

“I’m loving (what MVP is doing for women’s boxing)! I’ve always been a big advocate and supporter of women’s boxing,” she added. “I want to see women’s boxing doing well, I want to see women in the spotlight and getting those opportunities, so of course I love what they’re doing. I didn’t like the kind of animosity I kind of felt from (Bidarian’s) interview with you guys a couple of weeks ago. It felt a little bit personal, if anything, but it’s all part of the game. There’s no hard feelings from here.”