Sean Strickland’s coach, Eric Nicksick, admits he messed up with how he handled Sean Strickland’s UFC 312 loss.
The fighter recently went up against Dricus Du Plessis for the UFC middleweight title, but he lost the battle after an unfulfilling battle. Many believed the fighter performed poorly compared to the first clash he had with the African. The defeat caught some by surprise but Nicksick revealed he wasn’t and had some heavy criticism towards his fighter. He said Strickland did not put as much effort as was expected and was uninspired with the performance. While Nicksick may have been right, Strickland did not take his comments lightly. Strickland said although he has love for Nicksick, he will not be continuing with the ex-fighter as his coach moving forward.
“I like Eric, he’s a friend of mine, and he’s going to continue to be a friend of mine – will he probably be in my corner [again]? Probably not,” Sean Strickland said in an Instagram post. “We have so many great guys at Xtreme [Couture], Nate [Pettit], Ray Sefo, we have so many savages that I would love to corner me. But that entire fight camp was just a struggle. It was a f—– struggle.”
The news came as quite a surprise to many who never expected the duo to have such a fallout. Nicksick is now rethinking his statement. The coach admits he should have been more careful with his words and should not have openly criticized his fighter after a big loss.
“I don’t even consider it a fallout,” Nicksick said. “I think it was just something I needed. I made a calculated mistake. We’ll talk about that and my thought process in what went on. But it was something I felt I really needed because it showed me a lot about people. It made me learn about what I need to do better. There was a lot, bro. Dude, I came out of this going, OK, here’s where I can be a better person, a better coach, a better friend, a better mentor, all these other things.’ But it also showed me who is in my corner.”
“I made a mistake by accepting the invitation to go on at the timing of where I was at,” Nicksick continued. “I think people need to understand, you’re coming off 25 hours of travel, 19 19-hour time difference. I’m at the gym on Tuesday, half awake. I should’ve just said, ‘Hey man, not a good time.’ That’s where I f*cked up. I should’ve never done it.
“The reason why, you win, it’s like you’re on this parade. I also feel like if you lose, you should face the music, too. Hey man, we lost, let’s face it. What threw me for a loop was, about 30 minutes before going on with Ariel [Helwani], Sean is at practice with us, and Sean tells me all these things about how he felt in the weeks leading up to the fight, yada yada yada, his headspace. And it was very disappointing to hear what his headspace was and what his thought process was about being a champion, all these things. That’s personal. I should’ve known better. I took that energy and had to process that while I go on Ariel.
Although Nicksick admits he should have expressed himself better and exuded better judgment, he stands by what he said about Strickland.
“I made a miscalculation in that moment in every accepting to go on the show,” Nicksick said. “Number two, my wording was piss-poor. What I said was accurate: the fight was uninspiring. We all know Sean. That is not how Sean fights. What I said was accurate. Am I to shoulder some of that blame? One hundred percent. As a staff, it’s on us. I’ve always said that. But his output, his body language, his demeanor, it did not feel like Sean. And if anybody thinks I should have lied to cover, that’s a Yes Man, and I won’t be that.
“So if anybody is upset that I was a little too harsh on Sean f*cking Strickland, what are we doing here?
“Now, where my wording was wrong was when Ariel said, ‘Do you want to continue to coach Sean?’ On the heels of what he told me prior, my response should’ve been ‘championship mindset.’ Not champions. I don’t coach all champions, and I get that. Sean has a championship mindset. He works his ass off, he spars hard. I can never do what Sean does. But when you tell me that your motives have changed and it’s not to be a champion per se, my only real big incentive is ‘Let’s chase greatness.’ But I f*cking worded it wrong.”
Nicksick says he doesn’t mind Strickland not wanting him in his corner, but he wants the fighter to do better moving forward. He still acknowledges Strickland as a friend and says his intentions were good, although misconstrued.
“What I’ve learned over the years is you should probably give people a little grace here and there. I can’t bat a thousand, and I made a mistake; I made a calculated error on that part. But what I was trying to do, in a roundabout way, was to challenge my fighter to perform better the next time out.
“Because here’s a guy who has publicly talked shit about Edmen [Shahbazyan], [Marvin] Vettori, other coaches, and the reason he does that is because he’s trying to get the best out of them. … I know what Sean’s trying to do, and I defended him about what he’s said and how he’s said it because he wants what’s best for his guys in the room. …
“So I tried to do a little of what Sean does and give him a taste of his own medicine and try to get a f*cking response out of him going, ‘I’m going to prove this motherf*cker wrong.’ I guarantee you this: if I’m in his corner or not, do you think he’s going to fight harder next time?
“So, did I f*ck up? Did I go and call him out or say anything that no one else was saying? I was probably the best on him compared to Din Thomas, other people. These guys were going after him. ‘Oh, you’re piling on!’ No, I’m being open and honest to the constructive criticism that we all should take on, myself included.”
Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis had their first meeting in 2024, and it was a back-and-forth war. Their second clash was incredibly lopsided. ‘Stillknocks’ dominated Strickland across five rounds, handing the former champion a lopsided decision loss.
