Sean
Strickland coach Eric Nicksick revealed that there is always a
risk of the former middleweight champ not listening to his
corner.
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Strickland (28-6) is scheduled to fight Paulo Costa
(14-3) in the co-main event at
UFC302 on June 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New
Jersey. Strickland’s only knockout loss in the recent past came
against Alex
Pereira in 2022, when he inexplicably chose to stand in the
pocket against the former Glory Kickboxing champion. With Costa
also being known for an explosive style, Nicksick admitted that
there is always the possibility of Strickland fighting the
Brazilian’s game.
“Of course, I’m always worried. He doesn’t listen for s—t,” Eric
Nicksick told Sportskeeda MMA. “There’s elements I think that
we need to address. Especially in a five-round fight, it’s
important to utilize a full MMA skills set. You’ve heard me say
this time and time again with Sean. And will he probably listen,
probably not.”
Following his loss against Pereira, Strickland suffered a close
split-decision loss against Jared
Cannonier. Strickland then bounced back with back-to-back wins
and landed a title shot, where he outdueled Israel
Adesanya in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. Nicksick
revealed that Strickland acknowledged his fault in not listening to
his corner in the Cannonier loss and made necessary
adjustments.
“Those are things that I think I can go back in point to, for
example when we lost to Jared
Cannonier, there were certain things that I was asking for that
I think that would have solidified a win for ourselves — instead we
lose a close split decision. And we went back to the drawing board,
and he called me actually that Sunday and he said, ‘Hey I
understand what you were telling me now and why you were asking for
those things.’ And then he listened and then we won two in a row
and then we won the title fight.”
Strickland lost his title via split decision against Dricus Du
Plessis at
UFC 297 this past January. According to Nicksick, Strickland
could have secured himself a win had he listened to his corner,
which the former champ also acknowledged.
“And then we fought Dricus and there were some things that I think,
although the fight was very close, there’s things again that we
were asking for that I think would have solidified us to get that
victory,” Nicksick said. “And we didn’t do those things and again
he said, ‘Now I understand what you’re saying.’ It’s just a growth
process for me and him as a coach and fighter. I hope that he
trusts our instincts from outside of the cage and he can follow
suit with some of those things and go get us another victory.”
The upcoming tilt between Strickland and Costa is a five-rounder, a
rarity for non-title fights that aren’t headliners. Nicksick
believes the stipulation will favor Strickland, who boasts one of
the best gas tanks at middleweight.
“I feel it definitely favors us, our durability, our pressure and
the pace that Sean’s able to keep on. We’ve seen what Sean’s able
to do in five rounds. He is a gas pedal guy, he’s gonna stay in
your face and he’s gonna push the pressure. So I definitely think
that does favor us in a five rounder.”
Nicksick also shared details of Strickland’s grueling training
regimen at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas, where he is being
constantly pushed by Bellator
MMA middleweight champ Johnny
Eblen.
“Camp’s been really good, and that’s the great part about Sean, is
he’s always working, he’s always in the gym,” Nicksick said. “Last
Monday this guy sparred Johnny
Eblen for five rounds at 11 a.m. and then came back to my 3:30
pro practice, which is a grinder. We ended up doing about seven,
five-minute rounds, then we did like some wall works and drills. I
mean, it’s a really, really hard practice. And him [Strickland] and
Eblen are just neck and neck every time they’re in there. That’s
why I love having Johnny in the room, is because those two just
push each other.”
Nicksick is confident that Strickland won’t need the judges against
Costa.
“I think Sean could get him out of there by round 4 or round 5,” he
said.