Tag: Eric Nicksick

Israel Adesanya claims coach saved Sean Strickland’s life with corner advice in UFC 293 title defeat

Israel Adesanya claims coach saved Sean Strickland life at UFC 293 lossFormer two-time undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya had heaped praise on the coaching ability of Xtreme Couture head coach, Eric Nicksick following his title loss to his student, Sean Strickland at UFC 293 last weekend, claiming corner advice instructed by him helped “save” the challenger’s life.  Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight champion under the […]

Israel Adesanya claims coach saved Sean Strickland life at UFC 293 loss

Former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya had heaped praise on the coaching ability of Xtreme Couture head coach, Eric Nicksick following his title loss to his student, Sean Strickland at UFC 293 last weekend, claiming corner advice instructed by him helped “save” the challenger’s life. 

Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight champion under the banner of the organization, suffered his second championship loss in less than a year, dropping a unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) loss to Covina native, Strickland over the course of five one-sided rounds in Sydney, Australia.

As for Strickland, the shocking upset victory came as his first in a championship bout under the banner of the Dana White-led promotion, headlining his first pay-per-view event since joining the UFC to boot.

Israel Adesanya claims Sean Strickland’s head coach saved his life at UFC 293

And according to Nicksick, Adesanya informed him immediately after his title loss, that he managed to save Strickland’s life with his corner advice throughout the bout, with Nicksick noting Adesanya’s intention to setup a high-kick effort which he managed to read.

“Izzy (Israel Adesanya) came up to me and said, ‘You saved (Sean Strickland’s) life,” Eric Nicksick told Morning Kombat during a recent interview. “‘You kept calling out my reads.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, because I saw what you were setting up.’ He (Israel Adesanya) would throw his southpaw cross at Sean’s right hand and Sean would parry it down. I yell to Sean, ‘Bro, he’s going to same-side head kcik you.’ It’s going to come right behind it.”

Urging critics of his to “delight in my [his] demise” off the back of his title loss to Strickland at UFC 293 last weekend, Adesanya has been lined up for an immediate championship rematch with the newly-crowned champion, with head coach, Eugene Bareman claiming a bout could take place as soon as December of this year. 

Do you want to see Israel Adesanya rematch Sean Strickland next?

Francis Ngannou’s coach addresses MMA future if he defeats Tyson Fury: ‘He has more to accomplish’

Francis NgannouAfter climbing to the top of the mixed martial arts world, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will test his mettle in the squared circle on October 28. ‘The Predator’ will head to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for his highly anticipated professional boxing debut. Meeting him in the ring is perhaps the greatest competitor […]

Francis Ngannou

After climbing to the top of the mixed martial arts world, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will test his mettle in the squared circle on October 28.

‘The Predator’ will head to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for his highly anticipated professional boxing debut. Meeting him in the ring is perhaps the greatest competitor in the history of the sport, Tyson Fury. Understandably, Francis Ngannou will go into the bout as a decided underdog, but with the kind of power that the Cameroonian possesses, he most definitely has a puncher’s chance of shocking the world and planting ‘The Gypsy King’ six feet under the canvas.

But should that highly unlikely scenario become a reality, what’s next? Currently, Francis Ngannou is expected to make his return to MMA in 2024 under the PFL banner, but could a win over Fury delay those plans or nix them altogether? Ngannou’s coach, Eric Nicksick, says that is a bridge they’ll cross once they get to it.

“I guess we’ll cross that bridge when it comes,” Ngannou’s head coach Eric Nicksick told MMA Fighting. “[Financially] he can lose to Tyson Fury and never have to fight again. Who knows.”

Even if Francis Ngannou manages to hand Tyson Fury his first career loss in the sweet science, Nicksick is confident that ‘The Predator’ will return to the cage as he still has much more to accomplish in the sport.

“I’m hoping that he wins this fight and I feel he has so much more to accomplish in MMA, just from what he’s been building with his skill set,” Nicksick explained. “As long as he’s enjoying it and he’s having fun, I think he’ll come back.”

Eric Nicksick Reveals the Key to the Evolution of Francis Ngannou

Making things fun has been a big key to Francis Ngannou’s success according to Nicksick. When Ngannou first made his presence known at Xtreme Couture, everyone knew he was something special, but he still had a lot of work ahead if he wanted to become a bonafide superstar. That was ever-present in his first meeting with general consensus heavyweight GOAT Stipe Miocic at UFC 220. For 25 minutes, Miocic relentlessly pursued takedowns and pummeled ‘The Predator’ on the ground, exposing a glaring hole in Ngannou’s game.

Since then, Ngannou has rounded out his skill set. Talking about his evolution, Eric Nicksick revealed that it was all about making it fun for ‘The Predator’ during subsequent training sessions to fill that gap.

“We made it fun for him,” Nicksick said. “When we first started talking about the wrestling element, you think about your deficiencies and that takes a tax on your mental state. Our mindset was to make it fun for him and make it offensive, and especially when it comes to wrestling, if you’re working on offensive wrestling, inherently you’re going to work on defensive wrestling.

“What we had to do was flip the script and make it more fun for him. So when he’s taking guys down and beating guys up, you can see that he had a new tool. It made it a lot more fun.”

Francis Ngannou has since showed off his ground game, utilizing it to defend the UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in what would be his final fight with the promotion.

Following the win, Ngannou was shelved for more than a year after undergoing knee surgery to repair a torn ACL.

“At the end of the day, with what he’s been developing in the room with MMA, he said to me a few times — and this was after we got him back in the room after knee surgery — he’s like, ‘I really love what I’m doing in MMA,’” Nicksick relayed. “[He told me,] ‘I love the sport now, I love all the aspects with all the takedowns and everything else.’”

Francis Ngannou Almost Withdrew From MMA Return Due To Injury, Coach Reveals

Former UFC champion Francis Ngannou made a successful return to mixed martial arts this past weekend, but as it turns out, injury had threatened to derail it. Ngannou entered the cage on Saturday for the first time since a victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. After departing the promotion and signing […]

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou Almost Withdrew From MMA Return Due To Injury, Coach Reveals at MMA News.

Former UFC champion Francis Ngannou made a successful return to mixed martial arts this past weekend, but as it turns out, injury had threatened to derail it.

Ngannou entered the cage on Saturday for the first time since a victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. After departing the promotion and signing with the PFL, “The Predator” turned his attention to the chance to complete a long-desired boxing crossover.

While his success against Tyson Fury left many questioning whether he’d compete in MMA again, a knockout loss to Anthony Joshua this past March was soon followed by confirmation of his SmartCage debut.

That came on October 19 in the main event of the PFL’s second pay-per-view of the year, staged at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ngannou showed he hasn’t lost a step, taking Renan Ferreira down and ground-and-pounding him to a first-round knockout.

During an interview with MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn in the aftermath of the PFL event in the Middle East, coach Eric Nicksick reflected on the hardships his man endured this year.

And when it came to fight camp for Saturday’s Battle of the Giants event, that included a rib injury that came close to scrapping the main event altogether.

“It was bad enough to where you’ve got to think: He blew out his knee and wasn’t going to pull out of the Ciryl Gane fight, (but almost pulled out of this one),” Nicksick said. “There’s a difference, different stakes, but also it was a different type of pain for him, and obviously we had a grappling-heavy game plan.

“He was worried if he was on his back, how he would be able to move and try to grapple with an injured rib. Once he went to the doctors and they cleared him with an MRI and everything else, I think he realized, ‘I’m going to be OK. I’m going to get through this still.’”

Ngannou ultimately overcame that piece of adversity, which marked far from his toughest experience of this year.

Following his boxing defeat to “AJ,” the Cameroonian star tragically lost his son, Kobe, at the age of just 15 months. Ngannou admitted that his child’s passing brought him close to retirement, and he dedicated the win on Saturday to Kobe.

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou Almost Withdrew From MMA Return Due To Injury, Coach Reveals at MMA News.

Francis Ngannou ‘Most intrigued’ by Deontay Wilder fight following UFC departure: ‘That’s what he wants to do’

Francis Ngannou Deontay Wilder Boxing Fight UFCFormer UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou appears to be most interested in making an immediate transition to professional boxing following his departure from the promotion last month, according to his head coach, Eric Nicksick, who also claimed a clash with former WBC champion, Deontay Wilder has piqued his interest.  Ngannou, a former undisputed UFC heavyweight […]

Francis Ngannou Deontay Wilder Boxing Fight UFC

Former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou appears to be most interested in making an immediate transition to professional boxing following his departure from the promotion last month, according to his head coach, Eric Nicksick, who also claimed a clash with former WBC champion, Deontay Wilder has piqued his interest. 

Ngannou, a former undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, officially departed the organization last month following the completion of his contractual obligations on December 9. last. And in the time since, has been linked with an immediate transition to the squared circle.

Amongst potential opponents for the Cameroon knockout artist; WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, as well as former heavyweight kingpin, Anthony Joshua, however, the aforenoted Tucasloosa native, Wilder has offered to twice fight Francis Ngannou – first in boxing then in mixed martial arts competition. 

Francis Ngannou weighing up fight with Deontay Wilder

And after welcoming a fight with Wilder, Ngannou, who claimed he would only take a boxing matchup with the former in a bid to allow him to “keep his limbs” – the Cameroon punchers appears most interested in a fight with a former WBC titleholder.

“We spoke all last week on probably doing boxing first,” Eric Nicksick said of Francis Ngannou’s future during an appearance on MMA Junkie Radio. “That sounds like what he wants to do. We were talking about some different boxing trainers we might try to bring in, locations of where he might try to go, the opportunity to maybe fight (Deontay) Wilder. Anthony Joshua’s been a name.”

“I’ve heard Tyson Fury. I’ve heard Andy Ruiz. I’ve heard all these different names kind of pop up,” Nicksick explained. “But the one that sounds like the most intriguing to Francis has been definitely the Wilder fight. So we’ll see how this transpires and what’s gonna happen, but I’m just glad to have him home and back in the gym.” 

Last year, Wilder returned to the winner’s enclosure following a two-fight losing skid against Tyson Fury – stopping Robert Helenius with a thunderous first round knockout in Brooklyn, New York. 

Francis Ngannou’s Coach Discards Chin-Related Concerns Against Renan Ferreira Despite Anthony Joshua KO

Francis Ngannou last fought in the UFC in January 2022 and left the promotion amidst contract disputes. He’s since had two boxing matches, against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Although he lost both bouts, the fight against Fury went the distance and many backed him to be the winner. On October 19, 2024, Ngannou will […]

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou’s Coach Discards Chin-Related Concerns Against Renan Ferreira Despite Anthony Joshua KO at MMA News.

Francis Ngannou last fought in the UFC in January 2022 and left the promotion amidst contract disputes. He’s since had two boxing matches, against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Although he lost both bouts, the fight against Fury went the distance and many backed him to be the winner.

On October 19, 2024, Ngannou will finally make his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira. The PFL heavyweight champ knocked out Ryan Bader to claim the title and his first defense is against the lineal heavyweight champion of mixed martial arts.

Ferreira can end the fight anytime he lands like Ngannou. Despite his fighter coming off a KO loss in boxing, Eric Nicksick is confident in “The Predator” having superior boxing and grappling…

Francis Ngannou’s Coach Admits To Wresting-Heavy Game Plan Against Ferreira But Denies Knockout Threat

Nicksick recently discussed the future of many of his fighters during an interview on the MMAFightingonSBN YouTube channel. The coach was asked if fans should be worried about Ngannou’s chin deteriorating, as he’s now 38 and last suffered a crushing KO loss against Joshua.

With 4 oz gloves that are far lighter than standard boxing gloves, Ferreira certainly boasts dangerous knockout power. However, according to Nicksick, Ngannou has an equal chance to knock his opponent out and his boxing has improved drastically in the last couple of years. “The Predator” has largely worked on his movement and knows how to roll with the punches to absorb damage.

“It turns into a coin flip, right? Like these guys touch you with 4 oz gloves, somebody’s going to sleep. Now, what we do have in our favor is I think the fact that Francis has been working a lot of his boxing, a lot of his footwork, and understanding how to roll with those punches, how to tie his counters into his defense. Just the evolution of his striking to me has gotten much more crisper, much more pristine, over the last couple years and I know that we weren’t able to show that in the Anthony Joshua fight, but, leading up to that Anthony Joshua fight, I mean, he literally, I mean, the best I’ve ever seen him, you know.”

Nicksick claimed that Ngannou’s boxing was at its best ahead of the Joshua fight. He couldn’t showcase this to the world, though, because at heavyweight, every match is a coin flip thanks to the power each fighter possesses.

After praising Ngannou’s boxing prowess, Nicksick also admitted to having a grappling-heavy plan against Ferreira. He expects over 25% of the PFL main event this weekend to be on the ground, indicating Ngannou will be ready to grapple if things go south.

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou’s Coach Discards Chin-Related Concerns Against Renan Ferreira Despite Anthony Joshua KO at MMA News.

Sean Strickland Details Leaving UFC Champion Coach’s Gym Because He Was Not A ‘Leader’: ‘Don’t Think He Carries The Passion For It…’

Sean Strickland appears to have landed in the perfect gym for his training style. For starters, his heavy emphasis on sparring is helped by how many fighters are always passing through the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas. He has also been able to develop a great relationship with the head coach, Eric Nicksick, who […]

Continue Reading Sean Strickland Details Leaving UFC Champion Coach’s Gym Because He Was Not A ‘Leader’: ‘Don’t Think He Carries The Passion For It…’ at MMA News.

Sean Strickland appears to have landed in the perfect gym for his training style.

For starters, his heavy emphasis on sparring is helped by how many fighters are always passing through the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas.

He has also been able to develop a great relationship with the head coach, Eric Nicksick, who is able to handle Strickland’s zany energy.

Before he found his way to Xtreme Couture, the former UFC middleweight champion was training out of another top gym – but it didn’t suit him quite as well.

Sean Strickland Compares The Coaching Styles Of Eric Nicksick And John Wood

Syndicate MMA, also in Las Vegas, is another gym that has achieved a lot of success at the highest level of the sport.

Veteran coach John Wood has been in the corner of several UFC champions, including Weili Zhang and most recently, Merab Dvalishvili.

Strickland eventually decided to leave Syndicate before making his way to Xtreme Couture, for a few different reasons.

One of those reasons was his connection with Nicksick that was very different to the relationship that he had with Wood, due to their different coaching styles.

On a recent episode of Nicksick’s Verse Us podcast, Strickland explained the difference between them and why he felt more at home after making the switch,

“Let’s say John wrote an entire book on MMA and you’re like, ‘Oh that’s a good book,’ and say Eric would write a pamphlet, that pamphlet will take you farther than that book, you know what I’m saying? Because like Eric is a leader. He knows how to implement it, he knows how to push it and he knows how to do it.

“John, on the other hand, he’s more of like, I don’t think he carries the passion for it like you watch, you come to a Monday practice, Eric’s f****** involved bro. The amount of energy he brings, like he is f****** involved. You go to a Syndicate practice, it’s like, ‘Alright we’re going to do wall stuff for like five minutes’.”

Read also: Sean O’Malley’s Coach Reveals UFC Rules He Would Change: ‘Aljo Does It…’

Continue Reading Sean Strickland Details Leaving UFC Champion Coach’s Gym Because He Was Not A ‘Leader’: ‘Don’t Think He Carries The Passion For It…’ at MMA News.