Former middleweight champion Sean Strickland has responded after receiving tough criticism from his own coach Eric Nicksick regarding his lackluster performance in his title rematch with Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312 on Saturday night.
In a brutally honest podcast interview earlier in the week, Nicksick had vented his frustration at Strickland’s ‘uninspired’ display on the Octagon, criticized his failure to throw anything but ‘jabs and teeps’ throughout the fight, and suggested that they may have to reassess their coaching relationship if he isn’t able to step up his game.
And it seems that Nicksick’s uncompromising comments have already led Strickland to the conclusion that he’ll be looking for a new coach going forward.
“I like Eric. He’s a friend of mind and he’s going to continue to be a friend of mine. Will he probably be in my corner? Probably not,” Strickland said in an Instagram video. “We have so many great guys at Xtreme [Couture]: Nate [Pettit], Ray Sefo. We have so many savages that I would love to corner me.”
Strickland went on to suggest that the reason he’d underperformed was that the rematch hadn’t come at the right time for him as he’d had a tough fight camp and was dealing with multiple injuries and ailments.
“That entire fight camp was just a struggle. Like, it was a f*cking struggle. And guys, we all have our excuses as to why we didn’t win, or why we won and shouldn’t have won. We all have excuses and they don’t f*cking matter.
“The only reason why I’m making this video is because Eric had to go do a f*cking podcast and become an influencer, so now I’ve got to like, alright, kind of explain myself.
“Opportunity. Not just with fighting. Opportunity never comes when it’s supposed to. It doesn’t matter what the circumstance is, what the situation is. You will never wake up and say, ‘You know what? Today is the perfect day for opportunity.’ It will come at the worst f*cking time. It will come at the worst time. And how many times it comes and you raise your hand and you say, ‘You know what? I’m f*cking ready,’ a lot of times you fail. A lot of the times you fail. But a lot of times you don’t fail, and it’s like you must say yes.”
“This is not an excuse, but that entire camp was just a struggle of I’m good. I’m good, knowing you’re not good,” Strickland said. “I was in Columbia eight weeks out, seven weeks out getting stem cells on a broken bone. Again, bone healed fine. Not an excuse. It just kind of weighs in the back of your head.
“All camp this is just in the back of your head and you keep telling yourself, ‘I’m f*cking good.’ I think this is what all men do. All men do this. Like, you look in the mirror and even though you know you’re not good you go, ‘I’m good, dude. You’re a f*cking man. You sack up.’ But all camp, dude, whether it be the staph infection, the broken arm, the having to get a Visa that didn’t get approved until the week, not bering able to get cornermen out there. This entire camp was like a struggle of I’m not good but me looking in the mirror and saying, ‘sack up.’
“Nothing away from Dricus. He came there and fought his ass off, f*cking broke my nose. Hats off. You fought like a f*cking man.
“I don’t fight to put belts on the wall. I don’t f*cking fight because Eric wants to go do a fancy podcast. That’s not why I fight. Before fighting, you guys, I mean I had the lowest self esteem, f*cking couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror. I didn’t even know what dignity was when I first started fighting. And kind of through fighting I’ve learned so much. I’ve met so many f*cking amazing people. Through the UFC and fighting and fight fans, you guys have changed my f*cking life. Changed my f*cking life. You’ve made me grow so much as a person in the ring and out of the ring. That’s why I fight. I f*cking love it. I’ve got a lot of fights left on my contract. I love fighting.“
Despite badly breaking his nose during the fight, Strickland says he’s already back in training and looking to rebuild after the disappointment of failing to reclaim the title.
“I’m going back in there gym. I’m working my ass off and I’m starting from f*cking square one. And that’s kind of how life is. You always get a step back where you’re like, ‘alright, I’ve got to start over again.’ And you have a choice. You either sack up and you do it or you f*cking quit. I’m going to sack up and do it.”
