Former UFC middleweight champion, Sean Strickland, laid an egg towards reigning 185-pound titleholder, Dricus Du Plessis, after they ran it again atop the UFC 312 pay-per-view (PPV) card earlier this month in Sydney, Australia.
Can’t blame this one on “optics.”
“Tarzan” was buried underneath a landslide of criticism within the wake of his ho-hum efficiency however appeared notably sad with the post-fight suggestions from his longtime coach, Eric Nicksick, who (publicly) referred to as the hassle “uninspiring.”
“I made a miscalculation in that second in ever accepting to go on [Ariel Helwani’s] present,” Nicksick mentioned on Verse Us. “Quantity two, my wording was piss-poor. What I mentioned was correct: the battle was uninspiring. Everyone knows Sean. That isn’t how Sean fights. What I mentioned was correct. Am I to shoulder a few of that blame? A hundred percent. As a employees, it’s on us. I’ve at all times mentioned that. However his output, his physique language, his demeanor, it didn’t really feel like Sean. And if anyone thinks I ought to have lied to cowl, that’s a ‘Sure Man,’ and I received’t be that. So if anyone is upset that I used to be a little bit too harsh on Sean f*cking Strickland, what are we doing right here?”
Strickland is nice at dishing it out … not so nice at taking it.
“So, did I f*ck up? Did I am going and name him out or say something that nobody else was saying? I used to be most likely the most effective on him in comparison with Din Thomas, different folks,” Nicksick continued. “These guys had been going after him. ‘Oh, you’re piling on!’ No, I’m being open and trustworthy to the constructive criticism that all of us ought to tackle, myself included. Since he beat Izzy, I’ve seen a change. So I mentioned what I mentioned, hoping to get him again. So if that makes me a sh*tty particular person or a nasty coach or no matter, I don’t know. However I don’t remorse what I mentioned. I remorse the timing of it and the wording of it.”
The loss to Du Plessis marked Strickland’s second defeat over his final six fights, with the opposite coming towards “Stillknocks” at UFC 297. No phrase but on when or the place the 33 year-old “Tarzan” will make his Octagon return, however second half of 2025 appears seemingly.
With or with out Nicksick.
