Tag: Eric Nicksick

Coach Eric Nicksick has spoken out regarding the reaction to how he responded to Sean Strickland’s failed attempt at reclaiming the UFC middleweight title earlier this month.

The Xtreme Couture trainer was Down Under in Sydney, Australia earlier this month to corner Strickland at UFC 312. The former champion headlined in competition for Dricus Du Plessis’ gold.

While the South African had narrowly fallen on the right side of a split decision in their first fight, the rematch was far more convincing, with “Stillknocks” cruising to a lopsided decision victory across five rounds.

Strickland received plenty of flak for his performance, not least from his head coach. Nicksick gave a brutal assessment of his pupil, branding his attempt at winning back the middleweight belt “uninspiring” and questioning his motivation.

The 33-year-old evidently didn’t take too kindly to the public review, expressing plans to switch up his corner team moving forward while addressing the criticism in a social media video.

A number of other prominent names in the MMA space, from Daniel Cormier to Matt Brown, have also spoken out against Nicksick’s decision to publicly slate his fighter. And in the comments section of an MMA Fighting Instagram post showing “The Immortal’s” remarks on it, Strickland’s coach admitted to making an error.

“@iamtheimmortal I agree, Matt, looking back at it I made a mistake,” Nicksick admitted. “My true intentions were to try and motivate him publicly, and that was a miscalculation on my part.”

It remains to be seen whether Strickland will push through with his plans to utilize new personnel for his next corner in spite of Nicksick acknowledging his mistake.

While former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland doesn’t appear to have any animosity toward his “friend” Eric Nicksick, he seemingly isn’t expecting the renowned coach to lead his corner next time out.

After sharing a special night in Sydney back in 2023 courtesy of a memorable upset win over Israel Adesanya, Strickland and Nicksick were back Down Under last week challenging the reign of Dricus Du Plessis.

They narrowly failed to crack the South African’s puzzle 13 months ago in Canada, and the polarizing American was even further from having his hand raised second time around.

In the main event of UFC 312 on Saturday, Strickland fell to a lopsided decision defeat after a disappointing display across five rounds that has garnered him plenty of flak from the MMA community. And perhaps the most vocally critical this week was the Xtreme Couture standout’s head coach and cornerman.

During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Nicksick didn’t hold back in his assessment of Strickland’s performance, branding it “uninspiring.” Many have eagerly anticipated the ex-champ’s reaction to those remarks, and he provided them a day later in a video posted on X.

In addition to outlining his plan to utilize different individuals in his corner moving forward, Strickland highlighted some of the adversity he had to overcome during fight camp for UFC 312.

“Alright, you guys keep tagging me about this whole Eric thing,” Strickland began. “I like Eric; he’s a friend of mine, and he’s going to continue to be a friend of mine. Will he be in my corner? Probably not. We have so many great guys at Xtreme…we have so many savages who I would love to corner me. … That entire (UFC 312) fight camp was just a struggle. Guys, we all have exuses as to why we didn’t win…and they don’t f*cking matter.

“The only reason why I’m making this video is because Eric had to go do a f*cking podcast and become an influencer, so now I’ve got to kind of explain myself. Opportunity never comes when it’s supposed to. … You must say yes. This is not an excuse, but that entire camp was just a struggle of, ‘I’m good, I’m good,’ knowing I’m not good,” Strickland continued. “Whether it be the staph infection, the broken arm, having to get a visa that didn’t get approved until a week (before), not being able to get cornerman out there; this entire camp was a struggle of, ‘I’m not good,’ but me looking in the mirror and saying, ‘Sack up!’”

The 33-year-old also touched on Nicksick’s questioning of his motivation when it comes to a continued career in fighting.

While the renowned trainer stated in no uncertain terms that he’s only interested in coaching those who aspire to be a world champion, Strickland enters the Octagon for a different reason.

“You guys, I don’t fight to put belts on the wall. I don’t fight because Eric wants to go do a fancy podcast,” Strickland stated. “Before fighting, you guys, I had the lowest self-esteem. I couldn’t even look at myself in the f*cking mirror. Through fighting, I’ve learned so much, met so many amazing people. … You guys have changed my f*cking life. You’ve made me grow so much as a person, in the ring and out of the ring. That’s why I fight.”

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has been receiving plenty of flak for his defeat this past weekend, and it’s clear that even his own team is under no illusion about their man’s underperformance.

Strickland vowed to put on a war in pursuit of redemption against Dricus Du Plessis — the man who took the 185-pound gold from him early last year — in the UFC 312 main event on Feb. 8.

But in his return to the site where he shockingly dethroned Israel Adesanya in 2023, the polarizing American was unable to repeat the feat. Instead, the South African once again got the better of him on the scorecards, this time much more definitively.

The defeated challenger has been criticized for not letting his hands go and putting any sort of pressure on the champ throughout the five-round contest. And perhaps the most brutally honest take to date has come from the lips of his head coach.

During an appearance on Tuesday’s episode of The Ariel Helwani Show on Uncrowned, Nicksick described his frustrations as he watched Strickland’s lackluster display from the corner inside Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena.

“I think (Strickland) needs to evaluate what he wants to do in the sport,” Nicksick said. “If it’s just to make money, then that’s great. Let us know. I wanna coach world champions. My motivations are different. Just to kind of show up and do that and not really back it up, to me, was just kind of uninspiring.

“It was just uninspired fighting to me. It just seemed like (Strickland) was sleepwalking. It was tough, man,” Nicksick continued. “To travel all the way (to Australia) — and let’s not forget, this is a title fight…I take these title fights very seriously. I was just disappointed, man.”

It remains to be seen how Strickland will react to Nicksick’s stance, and what kind of conversations the two have had behind closed doors in the aftermath of Saturday’s pay-per-view event Down Under.