Sean Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick breaks down his judging during Strickland’s title fight against Dricus Du Plessis.
The UFC 297 main event between Du Plessis and Strickland ended in a bloody and completive five rounds. Du Plessis would end up having his hand raised and while some agreed, there was a large portion of fans who believe Strickland should have retained his title.
Strickland would put out a statement believing that he had won the fight, which in fairness was incredibly close.
Eric Nicksick reveals live betting odds could have swayed advice to Sean Strickland
Appearing on The Anik & Florian Podcast, Nicksick discussed the judging of the fight and revealed that the live odds could have swayed him into believing Sean Strickland had won rounds one and two.
“I initially thought we won rounds one and two,” Nicksick revealed. “Two being close, I didn’t know how they were going to score the takedowns, but I gotta admit, like, what kind of messed me up was I looked down at the apron, and they show the live odds, like the graphic on the- so I looked down and I saw, you know, we were -200 after the first round, minus -325 after the second round. I might be wrong, but I remember seeing the odds being in our favour.” (H/T MMA News)
“I’m like ‘Okay, so, if there’s people in the world that know what they saw, it’s people with money on it,” Nicksick continued. “You would think, So it reiterated my thoughts that we won round one and two. Again, this is MMA, it could change at any moment.”
Nicksick is a straight shooter, and while he cares for his fighters out of Xtreme Couture the 44-year-old is logical and honest. It’s commendable to see Nicksick discuss this kind of thing and show what makes him such a successful coach.
It’s not clear what exactly Strickland will do next but a rematch does not seem out of the question.
How did you score Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis?