Eric Nicksick the head coach of Sean Strickland says his fighter nearly didn’t get the chance to fight at UFC 293.
Strickland was headlining the pay-per-view card in Australia for the middleweight title against Israel Adesanya. It wasn’t the fight the UFC originally wanted as the plan was for Dricus Du Plessis to get the shot. However, during fight week, as Strickland was walking around Australia, he revealed to the media he punched a fan who was trash-talking him.
Although Sean Strickland said it in a joking way, Eric Nicksick revealed the Australian government was not happy. With that, there was a time when Nicksick thought the UFC would have to pull him from the fight.
Strickland was nearly out of UFC 293
“We were walking on eggshells all week,” Nicksick said on The MMA Hour about Sean Strickland. “Honest to God, I thought we were going to get pulled. I really did. They went to the beach and Sean basically incriminates himself during fight week [in an interview], ‘Yeah, this guy comes up to me talking trash and I punched him in his belly.’ Apparently, the Australian government or whoever heard this, they got word of this, and it went downhill from there. It got to the point where they were flying John Crouch out from Arizona, from MMA Lab, to come out and corner Jared Cannonier.
“When I heard that, I was like, ‘Bro, we’re off. They’re going to pull us from this card.’ Remember, these guys probably didn’t want Sean in this spot to begin with. We were walking on thin ice the moment we got there. Every fan that we had an interaction with, when I was there, absolutely adored Sean, loved him. Pictures, hugs, this and that.
“The one day I’m not there, I get a call and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I guess some fan came up to Sean and started talking s***.’ And Sean just gave him a rip, like a little bump, I don’t even know, it wasn’t like he hit the guy hard or something. It flew under the radar, there was nothing being said about it, and then Sean’s dumb ass goes on and says something in an interview and basically incriminates himself and I’m like, ‘Bro, what are we doing?’”
“When I heard that, I was like, ‘Bro, we’re off. They’re going to pull us from this card.’ Remember, these guys probably didn’t want Sean in this spot to begin with. We were walking on thin ice the moment we got there. Every fan that we had an interaction with, when I was there, absolutely adored Sean, loved him. Pictures, hugs, this and that,” Nicksick continued about Sean Strickland.
“The one day I’m not there, I get a call and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I guess some fan came up to Sean and started talking s***.’ And Sean just gave him a rip, like a little bump, I don’t even know, it wasn’t like he hit the guy hard or something. It flew under the radar, there was nothing being said about it, and then Sean’s dumb ass goes on and says something in an interview and basically incriminates himself and I’m like, ‘Bro, what are we doing?,'” Nicksick concluded about Sean Strickland.
Fortunately for Sean Strickland, the fight stayed on and he beat Israel Adesanya by decision to become the new champion.
