- Coach Eric Nicksick shared the craziest Sean Strickland story he had
- He talked about Strickland’s process of continuous hard sparring that helped take the short-notice main event for UFC Vegas 67
Seventh-ranked UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland is coming off a win over Nassourdine Imavov in the headlining bout of UFC Fight Night 217 under two weeks ago. He was tapped to make a quick turnaround after competing against former title challenger Jared Cannonier in the previous Fight Night card after Kelvin Gastelum pulled out of the contest. After dropping the fight to Cannonier, Strickland got back in the winning column with an impressive performance in less than 30 days.
Coach Eric Nicksick breaks down how Sean Strickland’s unusual training methods helped them take the UFC Vegas 67 headliner
In an exclusive interview with Mike Owens for Middle Easy, coach Eric Nicksick of Xtreme Couture MMA gym shared his thoughts on how Strickland’s process of constant hard sparring allowed them to take the UFC Vegas 67 headlining fight on short notice.
“He spars all fight week,” said Nicksick. “This is what this guy does. That’s how he trains, stays in shape. He just spars all day long. He’s definitely broken the mould I think for our thoughts and theories, our ideology when it comes to MMA and fight week but that’s what makes him so great. He lost to Cannonier and he’s right back in the gym. Take four days off. He comes back in to help Brad Tavares and Puna get ready for their fights. I think by doing so, it made us feel more comfortable being able to take that fight on short notice and the fact they didn’t really make us cut any weight. So, we took it at 205 pounds.”
Nicksick discussed Strickland’s method of asking his sparring partner to try knocking him out in training just a few days out from an actual bout.
“There’s only one way he spars and that’s hard. There’s times he’ll flow with guys but it’s for what the guy needs, the training partner needs. If there’s a guy who’s like, ‘hey Sean, can we flow?’ Sean will flow with you and give you the look you need. But if it’s for Sean and Sean wants to spar hard, he’s going to get a guy and he’ll tell you straight up, ‘hey, I’m fighting and I want you to try to knock me out and he’ll spar with whoever. Marvin Vettori was in town and they got in there banging it away literally three days away from a fight.”
Coach Nicksick shares the craziest Sean Strickland story
Coach Nicksick gave the wildest Sean Strickland story he could think of, which happened during the build-up to his showdown with Alex Pereira last July.
“It might have been the Pereira fight. He was late for cutting weight. I was like, ‘dude, we are cutting weight at this time. Where are you at?’ I think it was in July so it was summer time. He was like, ‘oh sorry man I was out in the desert having sex.’
“He’s a f**king wild man. That’s what I love about him. Let him be the way he is but we have an understanding that there’s times when things are important and dire, when I need your full attention, you have to respect that too. I’m going to let you be the way you are but when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. He’s like you got it bro. I understand that.”
Strickland does not currently have a fight booked but he recently made headlines for an altercation outside the octagon. He got into a dispute with social media self-defense star Dale Brown and offered him $200,000 for a fight in the desert.
You can watch the full interview below.
