Sean Strickland reveals issue with coach before Chimaev fight

After Sean Strickland’s second loss to Dricus Du Plessis in 2023, Eric Nicksick publicly criticised his performance as ‘uninspired fighting’, which sparked a heated exchange between the two.

The former champion responded by cutting ties with Nicksick, though he later brought him back into his corner for the UFC Houston event earlier this year.

While the two have patched things up since then, Strickland recently acknowledged that their relationship still isn’t entirely smooth.

“Me and Eric have a mixed relationship where it’s like, I’ll say this tactfully, if you’ve never fought or been in the gym, you don’t have an understanding,” Strickland said during a UFC 328 media scrum.

Nicksick doesn’t have a background in competing in MMA and his journey into the sport began following his college football career.

Going into his UFC 312 title fight against Du Plessis with a broken arm. Strickland didn’t tell Nicksick about the injury beforehand and believes that lack of communication played a role in their split after the fight.

Nicksick has previously spoken about having ‘strong’ feelings towards Chimaev as well as concerns about what sort of damage ‘Borz’ could cause against Strickland.