Strickland's coach reveals behind-the-scenes details of Chimaev's weigh-in at UFC 328.

Chimaev focused before fighting in the UFC. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook/UFC

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The controversy surrounding the weighing of Khamzat Shimaev before the UFC 328 It continues to reverberate behind the scenes of the organization. After Sean Strickland After defeating the Russian and regaining the middleweight title (up to 83,9 kg), Eric Nicksick, the American's coach, opened up about the whole situation and revealed what the team's real concern was during fight week.

In an interview with the website 'MMA Fighting', Strickland's coach stated that Chimaev had an obligation to make weight as the champion of the division. Despite this, Nicksick assured that the American's team would accept the fight regardless of the weight result.

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Loudmouth criticizes Chimaev and Strickland's attitude after UFC 328; understand why.

"Okay, let's start with this: he's the middleweight champion. That's his division, right? So it's simple: either you hand over the belt or you defend it. If you're going to give up the belt and move up a weight class, that's fine."

But, for me, if you're the 84 kg champion, you have a duty to defend that title and also a duty to make weight. Now, about this whole situation with the scale… it wasn't even about 'did he make weight or not'.

People forget that, depending on how much he earned, that could turn into a fine of 20% or 30% of his scholarship. And you know what? That's what we wanted. We wanted that money from the fine. We wanted that tax, baby,” Nicksick declared.

Subsequently, the coach reinforced that Sean Strickland He was willing to fight anyway, even if Chimaev appeared to be above the weight limit allowed by the athletic commission.

“We were going to fight anyway. He could have been 2 kg over the limit and Sean would still have accepted the fight. It wouldn't have made a difference to us, but it would have been a good amount of extra money if he had actually missed the weight,” he stated.

Strickland's coach responds to the possibility of an immediate rematch against Chimaev.

Eric Nicksick commented on the possibility of an immediate rematch between Sean Strickland e Khamzat ShimaevThe coach made it clear that he has no preference regarding the next challenger and reinforced the team's professional attitude.

"I don't give a damn, man. I don't care. It's not up to me. We're mercenaries. You call, tell us who we need to fight, and that's our job. We need to execute the fight plan and solve the problem."

It's that simple. There's no emotion involved. At this point in your career, being champion, it doesn't matter who it is. You have to defend the belt against whoever the UFC tells you to,” he concluded.