Tag: Eric Nicksick

Top MMA Coach Picks Joaquin Buckley As ‘Fighter Of The Year’ Over Alex Pereira & Ilia Topuria

Coach Eric Nicksick, for one, has been extremely impressed by UFC welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley’s efforts in 2024. Buckley closed out his year in style on Saturday night when he headlined the final event of 2024. Opposite him inside Tampa’s Amalie Arena was former interim champion Colby Covington, who planned on placing his name back […]

Coach Eric Nicksick, for one, has been extremely impressed by UFC welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley’s efforts in 2024.

Buckley closed out his year in style on Saturday night when he headlined the final event of 2024. Opposite him inside Tampa’s Amalie Arena was former interim champion Colby Covington, who planned on placing his name back into title contention a year on from a third failed bid for undisputed status.

“Chaos” didn’t succeed in that ambition, however, with Buckley dominating him in the opening two rounds before a deep cut sustained just above Covington’s right eye proved too bad for him to continue.

With the result, “New Mansa” has gone 4-0 this year, having previously knocked out Vicente Luque, outpointed Nursulton Ruziboev, and stopped Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

And according to Nicksick, that’s elevated him not only into the “Fighter of the Year” discussion, but above both consensus leading candidates Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria.

“Real talk, @Newmansa94 (Buckley) resurrection needs to be studied,” Nicksick wrote on X. “6-0 in a new division w/ 4 stoppages, 4-0 in 2024. Ladies and Gentlemen, he’s your 2024 Fighter of the Year. I’m out”

Pereira, the reigning light heavyweight kingpin, has staked his claim with three title defenses in 2024. After knockouts of Jamahal Hill and Ji?í Procházka, “Poatan” most recently came from behind to batter Khalil Rountree in round four of their headline battle this past October.

Topuria, meanwhile, seemingly has the edge over the Brazilian in terms of competition level. Though he’s fought once less than Pereira, the Spaniard dethroned the highly regarded Alexander Volkanovski in brutal fashion before becoming the first man to knock out Max Holloway to retain the featherweight gold.

But taking into account his career revival since dropping to 170 pounds, Buckley appears to have the vote of one renowned trainer in the fight game.

Sean Strickland’s Coach Explains Picking Dricus Du Plessis As ‘Toughest Challenge’ Over Khamzat Chimaev

Sean Strickland is set to challenge for the UFC middleweight title for the second time in his upcoming rematch with Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312. The former champion stuck to the idea that he would wait for his shot at “Stillknocks” following his win over Paulo Costa in June and it paid off for […]

Sean Strickland is set to challenge for the UFC middleweight title for the second time in his upcoming rematch with Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312. The former champion stuck to the idea that he would wait for his shot at “Stillknocks” following his win over Paulo Costa in June and it paid off for him with the fight being announced this past weekend at UFC 310.

For his head coach at Xtreme Couture, Eric Nicksick, the next few months will be all about looking at what they need to do differently in order to defeat Du Plessis in Sydney, Australia. Their first meeting at UFC 297 came down to a close split decision that saw the South African become the 185-pound champion.

For several weeks following his submission win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 308, it looked like the promotion might be heading towards Khamzat Chimaev as the next title challenger for Du Plessis. Though they aren’t thinking about it right now, both teams will know that if they come out on top in February, Chimaev will likely be their next opponent.

Nicksick spoke in a recent interview with Submission Radio about which opponent is a bigger threat to Strickland out of the current champion and the other top contender in the division. He explained why in his opinion, as of right now, Du Plessis is their biggest challenge.

“I mean, you would have to say [Dricus du Plessis] because he won, he beat us. Right now you have to say that [he’s the tougher matchup] because that’s the task at hand. I think Khamzat presents tons of different variables to his style that we’re gonna have to look at how to break down once that challenge presents itself. But right now, DDP is the toughest challenge for us.”

Ngannou’s Coach Highlights Jon Jones & Stipe Miocic’s Best Attributes Ahead Of UFC 309

Both Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic are not the kind of fighters that have too many questions surrounding their fighting styles and key attributes. There may be questions ahead of UFC 309 this weekend regarding how Jones looks at heavyweight and whether Miocic will be able to roll back the years but we know a […]

Both Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic are not the kind of fighters that have too many questions surrounding their fighting styles and key attributes. There may be questions ahead of UFC 309 this weekend regarding how Jones looks at heavyweight and whether Miocic will be able to roll back the years but we know a lot of the other variables.

In a recent piece for UFC.com, E. Spencer Kyte sat down with Eric Nicksick, who knows a thing about heavyweight title fights as the coach of Francis Ngannou, to break down this Saturday’s headline bout at Madison Square Garden. Starting with “Bones”, the Xtreme Couture head coach gave his opinion on what the consensus greatest of all time does better than the rest.

“For Jon, obviously, I think it’s his Fight IQ — that’s definitely gonna be No. 1, but the way that he’s able to apply different arts to the game plan; I think that’s what makes him the most intriguing fighter ever. He can beat you in any facet of the game and do it very, very well. He has an ego about him too, where if you watch the Cormier fight, ‘Oh, you’re the best wrestler? Okay, I’ll take your a** down. Gustafsson, you’re the best striker? I’m gonna out-strike you.’ There is an edge and an aura to him where he likes to beat his opponent at their best attribute, and that’s what makes him freakin’ amazing.”

Nicksick continued, adding what side of Jones’ game he believes will be the most important for this fight in particular.

“I think the attribute for him is his length — keeping this fight long and at a pace that favors him. I think he’s the ultimate puppet master in the way that he fights — he gets you into his style of fight, he controls that pace, and that’s where I think a lot of guys have problems with him because they get snake-charmed.”

Ngannou’s coach also highlighted Jones’ offense which has seen him showcase a wide array of weapons, many of which have become adopted by other fighters.

“It’s in his creativity too that you see how good he is because you don’t get to train a lot of that. You don’t get to prepare for a spinning back elbow off a right cross. That’s natural instinct like Saquon Barkley jumping over a guy; you look at it and go, ‘That’s the level of creativity in his mind that he’s doing that,’ and you can’t train for that, you can’t prepare for that.”

Nicksick then turned his attention to the challenger in this Saturday’s main event. Having trained Ngannou to fight the former two-time heavyweight champion twice before, analyzing Miocic’s game is something that he has plenty of experience doing already.

“His best traits are his boxing, his toughness, his durability and his heart, all those things, but as someone that had to game-plan for the guy — when you and I were talking about this fight last week, I was looking at some stuff, and it brought back an anxiety like I was going back and preparing for Stipe again. If you look at the trilogy with Cormier, Stipe looked better in every fight and got better in every fight. He was winning the first fight until he wasn’t, he was losing the second fight until he wasn’t, and then the third fight was a complete wash, but in that third fight, I saw so many different technical evolutions from him in that time.”

Nicksick believes that based on Miocic’s ability to adapt in the past, we could see even more developments in his game after he’s spent over three years outside of the Octagon.

“A lot of switch stances, a lot of lateral movement, a lot of shake steps — things that I think are more predicated to lighter weight fighters, and he was implementing these things and very much confused Cormier. So I also think it’s his evolution, and that’s a big question: how has he evolved these last three years? What has he been doing? I have to assume that he’s only gotten better. With the type of personality and champion that he is, (I have to assume) that he’s been working, doing new things.”

Francis Ngannou’s Coach Breaks Down How He Would Game Plan For Jon Jones

Unfortunately, it looks like the biggest fight in the heavyweight division across MMA may never happen. The prospect of seeing Jon Jones move up to heavyweight to face Francis Ngannou was one of the most talked about fights that we didn’t get to see when both men were in the UFC. Unfortunately, Jones debuting in […]

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou’s Coach Breaks Down How He Would Game Plan For Jon Jones at MMA News.

Unfortunately, it looks like the biggest fight in the heavyweight division across MMA may never happen. The prospect of seeing Jon Jones move up to heavyweight to face Francis Ngannou was one of the most talked about fights that we didn’t get to see when both men were in the UFC.

Unfortunately, Jones debuting in his new weight class saw him win the vacant title that was left behind when Ngannou departed the promotion and signed to the PFL. Though this super fight between champions is something that the PFL is very keen on, it seems incredibly unlikely that a deal will ever take place between the two promotions.

It’s still going to be used as a talking point for fans for many years to come and in a recent interview with Kevin Iole, Ngannou’s coach spoke about how he would have tried to approach the fight if it had happened inside the Octagon. Eric Nicksick broke down where he believes they would have had success in the fight.

Like many would assume, competing against the consensus greatest of all time in a technical back-and-forth would not have been the desired strategy for the Xtreme Couture head coach.

“I definitely think you had to put Jon on his back foot, you had to put pressure on him, you had to put him up against the corner post and you couldn’t get in a technical fight with Jon and you couldn’t allow him to dictate the hand play right, where he starts to occupy your hands and that’s a slow paced type of fight where Jon is very technical there and he starts to pick you apart with elbows and the clinch and the knees and the things that he does so well.

“For me, I thought we got to get this guy on his back foot and we got to apply pressure right away and make it an ugly fight, don’t make it a technical fight. You’re going to have to make this grimy and try to get out of there, try to get him out of there in the first two-three rounds. I think the longer a fight would have gone between him and Francis, it would have favored more Jon and that was where I felt like if we put a game plan on him, we were going to have to put the pace on him.”

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou’s Coach Breaks Down How He Would Game Plan For Jon Jones at MMA News.

Francis Ngannou’s Coach Breaks Down How He Would Game Plan For Jon Jones

Unfortunately, it looks like the biggest fight in the heavyweight division across MMA may never happen. The prospect of seeing Jon Jones move up to heavyweight to face Francis Ngannou was one of the most talked about fights that we didn’t get to see when both men were in the UFC. Unfortunately, Jones debuting in […]

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou’s Coach Breaks Down How He Would Game Plan For Jon Jones at MMA News.

Unfortunately, it looks like the biggest fight in the heavyweight division across MMA may never happen. The prospect of seeing Jon Jones move up to heavyweight to face Francis Ngannou was one of the most talked about fights that we didn’t get to see when both men were in the UFC.

Unfortunately, Jones debuting in his new weight class saw him win the vacant title that was left behind when Ngannou departed the promotion and signed to the PFL. Though this super fight between champions is something that the PFL is very keen on, it seems incredibly unlikely that a deal will ever take place between the two promotions.

It’s still going to be used as a talking point for fans for many years to come and in a recent interview with Kevin Iole, Ngannou’s coach spoke about how he would have tried to approach the fight if it had happened inside the Octagon. Eric Nicksick broke down where he believes they would have had success in the fight.

Like many would assume, competing against the consensus greatest of all time in a technical back-and-forth would not have been the desired strategy for the Xtreme Couture head coach.

“I definitely think you had to put Jon on his back foot, you had to put pressure on him, you had to put him up against the corner post and you couldn’t get in a technical fight with Jon and you couldn’t allow him to dictate the hand play right, where he starts to occupy your hands and that’s a slow paced type of fight where Jon is very technical there and he starts to pick you apart with elbows and the clinch and the knees and the things that he does so well.

“For me, I thought we got to get this guy on his back foot and we got to apply pressure right away and make it an ugly fight, don’t make it a technical fight. You’re going to have to make this grimy and try to get out of there, try to get him out of there in the first two-three rounds. I think the longer a fight would have gone between him and Francis, it would have favored more Jon and that was where I felt like if we put a game plan on him, we were going to have to put the pace on him.”

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou’s Coach Breaks Down How He Would Game Plan For Jon Jones at MMA News.

Francis Ngannou’s Coach Details How Renan Ferreira ‘F*cked Up’ Before PFL Fight

The coach of newly crowned PFL Super Fights Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou believes Renan Ferreira made a critical error in the lead-up to their clash this past weekend. Ngannou made an emphatic return to mixed martial arts on October 19, having not competed inside a cage since a successful UFC title defense back in January […]

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou’s Coach Details How Renan Ferreira ‘F*cked Up’ Before PFL Fight at MMA News.

The coach of newly crowned PFL Super Fights Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou believes Renan Ferreira made a critical error in the lead-up to their clash this past weekend.

Ngannou made an emphatic return to mixed martial arts on October 19, having not competed inside a cage since a successful UFC title defense back in January 2022.

After injury, a contract dispute and UFC exit, and venture into the boxing ring kept him away for close to two years, “The Predator” showed that he hasn’t lost a step by brutally ground-and-pounding Ferreira en route to a first-round TKO in his PFL debut.

During an appearance on Tuesday’s episode of The Ariel Helwani Show on Uncrowned, coach Eric Nicksick reflected on his man’s performance in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Xtreme Couture trainer spoke about the mindset Ngannou entered the cage with, explaining how it became more dangerous after Ferreira’s antics during their faceoff at the ceremonial weigh-ins the previous night.

“I just felt like there was a certain way about Francis, and especially after the faceoff,” Nicksick said. “I felt like Renan f*cked up by head-butting him and getting in his face, because it really took Francis to a different place. It really did. I’ve never really seen Francis, not necessarily mad, but it lit a fire under his ass in a different way.

“I’m thankful for Renan doing that, you know?” Nicksick continued. “When he did that, I looked over at Dewey (Cooper) and was like, ‘Yeah, dude. This is perfect. Thanks.’”

While the pair were hyped up when they went forehead to forehead on stage, they have showed nothing but respect for one another in the aftermath of their main event at the PFL’s Battle of the Giants pay-per-view.

“The Predator” recently praised “Problema” in a social media post, branding him an “incredible competitor.” The Brazilian entered the contest off the back of a title-winning PFL campaign in 2023 and rapid knockout of Bellator kingpin Ryan Bader this past February.

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou’s Coach Details How Renan Ferreira ‘F*cked Up’ Before PFL Fight at MMA News.