A. Poatan present in S. Strickland's corner at UFC 297. Photo: Reproduction/X
Former middleweight champion and dominated by Dricus du Plessis in an attempt to retake the throne in UFC 312, last Saturday (8), Sean Strickland is expected to have a new head coach in his corner for his next fight after receiving harsh criticism from his current mentor Eric Nicksick, head of Xtreme Couture.
In a video published on social media, the former champion commented on the criticism, assured that nothing will affect his friendship with Nicksick, but indicated that the coach should not be part of his corner in the next fights.
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“I like Eric (Nicksick). He’s my friend and he’s going to continue to be my friend. Is he going to continue to be in my corner? Probably not. We have a lot of great guys at Xtreme Couture, Nate Pettit, Ray Sefo, wild guys that I would love to have in my corner. The whole camp has been f***ing tough. We all have excuses and they don’t matter. The only reason I’m making this video is because Eric had to go do a f***ing podcast and become an influencer, so I have to kind of explain myself,” Strickland said.
Criticized not only by the coach, but also by the fans, due to his passive performance against Du Plessis, Strickland revealed that he had suffered physical issues during the camp, including a broken arm.
“It’s not an excuse, but the whole camp was complicated and I had to say I was fine without actually being fine. I was in Colombia eight or seven weeks before the fight doing stem cell treatment on a fractured bone. The bone healed well, but it’s something that weighs on your subconscious. It was training with that guy Ridder's Reinier. The whole camp, with the bacterial infection, the broken arm, the visa that wasn't approved until a week before the fight, not being able to take all my corners there. The whole camp was complicated, knowing that I wasn't well, but looking at myself in the mirror and deciding to move on,” he concluded.
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