After his win against Paulo Costa at UFC 302, Sean Strickland and his coach, Eric Nicksick, have decided to stop fighting until a title shot is secured.
The decision may lead to the fighter staying inactive for a while, but the fighter is ready to take this risk. Strickland intends to wait out the battle between reigning champion Dricus du Plessis and Isreal Adesanya as he is in the position to be considered for a match after the bout.
“The guy’s a mercenary, it’s just he goes to the highest bidder — like, ‘You want me to fight so and so, on this day, this time, four days’ notice? Whatever, I’ll do it,’” Nicksick told MMA Fighting. “Main event vs. Abus [Magomedov], ‘Fine, no problem, I’ll fight him.
“But yeah, he’s actually gotten a little smarter over the years, and I agree with him, man, wholeheartedly. I completely understand where he’s coming from. Why risk fighting a guy as great as Robert Whitaker when, in my mind, he’s never really lost the belt?”
Strickland has fought against the two athletes and believes he wil most likely be considered for a rematch.
“That was such a close fight against Dricus,” Nicksick said. “He dominated Izzy. I think if Izzy wins that fight, that’s an easy rematch. Izzy’s going to want to try to get that revenge, and if Dricus wins, I think that you put that to rest and give Sean the opportunity to avenge that loss. So both of them make sense to me. I think Sean has a claim at the next shot at that belt and, you know, sit on it. I mean, these guys fight next week, so we could fight by November or December.”
The former champion believes he deserves a shot at the title and has been eager for a rematch since losing the belt to Du Plessis at UFC 297. However, the South African opted out to fight Adesanya instead. Despite this risky move, Strickland is pretty confident about his stance, and his coach is 100% with him.
“I’m not really concerned at all,” Nicksick said. “You made your bed, you have to sleep in it. So after a calculated risk, if the promotion decides to pass you up, that’s on the promotion. That’s up to them. We don’t make that call, but I think he’s doing the right thing. He was taken care of, he’s got money in the bank, he’s training every day like he would be if he had a title fight coming up on Aug. 17. So he’s in the gym and he’s working, that’s all I can really ask for.
“Things can shake out differently and we know that. But again, the same opportunity that arose when it was supposed to be Izzy vs. Dricus the first time, we got passed up and then Dricus couldn’t make the fighte got the opportunity, we took it, we ran with it. So I’m not too worried about it. It is what it is and we’ll see how it shakes out.”
