Coach Eric Nicksick will corner Sean Strickland when ‘Tarzan’ makes his return to the octagon at UFC Houston on February 21 against Anthony Hernandez.
Nicksick and Strickland had parted ways after the former criticized Strickland’s UFC 312 performance against Dricus du Plessis. While Strickland promised an entertaining fight and promised to fight ‘Stillknocks’, on fight night he produced a lackluster show and simply jabbed for the entire 25 minutes. Du Plessis also broke the American fighter’s nose in round 4 of the title rematch.
Following the loss, Nicksick publicly criticized the former UFC champion’s performance, calling it uninspiring. On The Ariel Helwani Showhe said:
“To me it was just an uninspired fight, it just seemed that way [Sean Strickland] was sleepwalking. It was tough, man… Traveling all the way [to Austrailia]and let’s not forget this is a title fight… I take these title fights very seriously. I was just disappointed, man.”
During the UFC 312 title rematch, Sean Strickland was urged not to be predictable by Nicksick, who from the corner asked ‘Tarzan’ to open up as he needed a finish with just 10 minutes to go and had lost the previous rounds. However, the 34-year-old did not heed his coach’s advice.
When Strickland heard his coach publicly criticize the performance after the loss, he immediately declared that Eric Nicksick wouldn’t corner him anymore.
Over the next few days, however, the two made peace, and Nicksick even admitted that his timing of the criticism was wrong.
Eric Nicksick corners Sean Strickland at UFC Houston
Now, the Xtreme Couture head coach has confirmed that he will continue to corner Sean Strickland, and the two have resolved their previous differences. In an interview with MMA Fighting on SBN, the 46-year-old said:
“Yes sir, I’m there. First of all, I think for me there was a lot of learning that came out of that situation, a lack of communication on both sides. But I personally went through a lot with my father’s health, and then with traveling and being away from home, and all of these things came together in a way that I felt in the nature of the camp, and in some of the injuries that Sean was dealing with.”
He added:
“And it really just comes down to the fact that we just had to be better at communicating with each other, you know, and that was it. And about a week or two later we talked about everything. He knew where I was coming from. He knew what it came down to. I just have high expectations for him, because I know what he’s capable of, and he knows that I love him and care about him. We sat down and talked it out like men, and we’re ready to go.” So I’ll be there in his corner. We have a very difficult opponent in ‘Fluffy.’”
Watch Eric Nicksick’s comments below (1:34):
On the other hand, Sean Strickland recently revealed that he was forced to play the UFC 312 title rematch, and that he was not ready and had an injured shoulder.
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