Sean Strickland’s Coach Provides Tough Criticism After UFC 312 Loss

Sean Strickland’s Coach Provides Tough Criticism After UFC 312 Loss

At UFC 312, Sean Strickland challenged Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title. The former champion had an uninspiring performance that resulted in a one-sided decision loss. In the aftermath of the event, Eric Nicksick, Strickland’s head coach, publically provided his opinion on his fighter’s performance. The comments were filled with tough criticism.

Nicksick spoke about Strickland’s performance on The Ariel Helwani Show. All quotes via TheScore.

“It just seemed like he was sleepwalking,” Nicksick said. “It was tough, man. I was just trying to dig him out of it through the rounds. I didn’t know if he was trying to collect data in the beginning, or if it was just a slow start, or what was going on. But as the rounds began to progress, I could tell it just didn’t feel like he was in it the way most of the times that he is.”

Strickland’s underwhelming UFC 312 performance can be seen in the fight stat. At the most basic viewpoint, he went 128 of 263 on his strike attempts, according to UFC stats. That is the least amount of strikes he has landed in a five-round fight. In his first fight against Du Plessis, he landed 173 of his 408 strike attempts.

Aside from the numbers, Strickland’s performance did not pass the eye test. It never felt like he fought with a sense of urgency. That is despite being down late in a championship fight.

The biggest point of criticism that Nicksick provided is that Strickland’s lacking performance came in a title fight. The entire MMA world knows that is when the lights are the brightest and the fights are the most important.

“It was a tough 25 minutes, Nicksick said. “To travel all the way out there. And let’s not forget, this is a title fight. I take these title fights very seriously. I don’t know. I was just disappointed, man. I was disappointed with the whole, entire outcome, the whole fight as a process. Just thought it was just kind of flat.”

“We have to be real: It just was a very underwhelming performance in an opportunity to fight for the title,” Nicksick said. “There’s people in this sport that never even realize that potential to ever even be in an opportunity to fight for a championship. That should be enough to get you motivated, to get you off the couch. It just, to me, was – we didn’t perform.

“It’s on all of us. It’s on me as a coaching staff, it’s on Sean.”

The boldest claim that Nicksick made regarded his and Strickland’s future relationship. The Xtreme Couture MMA head coach is determined to coach champions and Strickland’s priorities need to be in the same place for the pair to continue working together.

“I think he needs to evaluate what he wants to do in this sport,” Nicksick said. “If it’s just to make money, then that’s great – let us know. I want to coach world champions. My motivations are different. I think that just to kind of show up and do that and not really back it up, just, to me, was kind of uninspiring.”

UFC 312: Five Things We Learned

Nicksick’s criticisms of Strickland’s performance are valid. If he did not have those concerns, it would be questionable coaching. It does not need to be viewed as an attempt to be disrespectful. Rather, it is an honest breakdown backed with sound criticism. If Strickland takes Nicksick’s words with an open mind, he could come out as an improved fighter. If he does not, it sounds like he may be searching for a head coach. That would be a massive hit considering Nicksick is one of the best in the business.

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