Sean Strickland Hints at Parting Ways With Eric Nicksick After Critical Comments on UFC 312 Performance

The fallout from Sean Strickland’s UFC 312 loss has taken an unexpected turn, with his coach, Eric Nicksick, publicly critiquing his performance. Strickland is now hinting at finding another camp to train with.

Earlier yesterday, Nicksick, the head coach at Xtreme Couture, publicly claimed that Strickland’s showing was uninspiring and that he needs to reevaluate his future in the octagon. According to Nicksick, he wants to focus on training championship-level fighters, implying that Strickland’s current trajectory may not align with that vision.

Strickland has now responded in a video, making it clear that while he still considers Nicksick a friend, their professional relationship might be coming to an end. He said,

“I like Eric, he’s a friend of mine and he’s gonna continue to be a friend of mine. Will he be in my corner, probably not.”

 

While Strickland didn’t outright slam his coach, it’s evident that he wasn’t thrilled about Nicksick airing his concerns to Ariel Helwani and his millions of viewers. Whether or not Nicksick should have had a conversation with Strickland before talking to the media is subject to debate. However, he was right to be frustrated with Strickland’s performance in the octagon last weekend.

Despite DDP easily countering his high-pressure style of fighting and breaking his nose, Strickland refused to shift gears throughout the fight, instead carrying on with a defensive tactic. This was despite coach Nicksick repeatedly telling him to step it up inside the octagon if he intended to win the title.

This performance by Strickland has not only irked fans and his coach but has also garnered widespread criticism from the MMA community, with many questioning if he can ever walk the big game he often talks about.

Luke Rockhold is tired of ‘fake’ Strickland

In the weeks leading up to the fight, Strickland had talked about going to war, fully understanding that he would need to change to push the face with DDP if he had any hopes of beating him.

During their first fight at UFC 297, Strickland and DDP had gone the distance in a much closer fight, but the South African had won the fight by judges’ decision. And there was a clear lesson to be learned there.

It was simple, DDP initiated the exchanges and struck far more than Strickland. At UFC 312, he did the exact same thing. Except, this time, he had also scaled up and stopped Strickland from hurting him in any way possible. Strickland could have done it but alas…

This didn’t sit well with former middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, who, in an interview with Ariel Helwani, tore into his ‘tough guy’ persona, and accused him of quitting after Du Plessis broke his nose mid-fight. He said,

“If someone breaks your nose, you’ve got to fight like a f*cking man and sack up… this motherf*cker talks such a big game and then he b*tches out and basically quits in the fight after he breaks his nose. I’m just tired of fake people.” 

Whether Strickland addresses Rockhold’s remarks remains to be seen, but the backlash against him following UFC 312 only seems to be growing stronger with each passing day.