- Sean Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick shared his UFC 302 co-main event prediction
- Nicksick said the UFC wanted Khamzat Chimaev against “Tarzan” and Dricus du Plessis was eager to do a rematch
Sean Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick is expecting “Tarzan” to finish Paulo Costa and talked about the potential match with Khamzat Chimaev.
Sean will get it done late in the fight
Speaking to Sportskeeda MMA, Nicksick shared his bold prediction on Strickland vs. Costa at UFC 302. The way Nicksick sees it, the former middleweight champ will work his way to the latter rounds and get the job done.
“I think Sean can get him out there by round four or round five,” Nicksick predicted.
Khamzat was thrown in there
Nicksick also spoke about how the Costa fight came about. According to the coach, the UFC had various names thrown in there for Strickland, including Chimaev. Nicksick also revealed that Dricus du Plessis personally talked to him about a rematch.
“I know they [UFC] were hoping for maybe Khamzat, but I don’t think Sean can travel to Saudi Arabia or something; I’m not 100% sure. But I know Khamzat’s name was possibly kicked around. Khamzat is going to be a big draw in Saudi, and that fight is more about location than it was about the opponent, in my opinion. And I ran into Dricus man, I talked to Dricus. Dricus is a class act, man. I really enjoyed having a conversation with them, and we discussed the fight. They said that they were asking for a rematch for Sean, and they were trying to get the rematch,” Nicksick revealed.
Strickland lost his title to Du Plessis at UFC 297 and is hoping to get another crack at the middleweight strap with a win over Costa. On the other hand, “Borrachinha” is also coming off a lost to former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and is eager to get back to the win column.
The pair will face at UFC 302 as co-main event to the lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier.
Watch Nicksick’s full interview below:
