Sean Strickland’s coach has given his honest assessment of his fighter’s performance after the former UFC middleweight champion was defeated by Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia.
Eric Nickick is head coach at Las Vegas gym Xtreme Couture, and has been the chief cornerman for Strickland through his recent fighting career. And, after watching Strickland fall to a disappointing decision defeat to Du Plessis in their title fight in Sydney, Nicksick appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show and said that the performance turned in by his fighter was underwhelming, to say the least.
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“It was just uninspired fighting, to me,” Nicksick admitted.
“It just seemed like he was sleepwalking, you know? It was tough, man. I was trying to dig him out of it through the rounds. I didn’t know if he was trying to collect data in the beginning, or if it was just a slow start or what was going on. But, as the rounds began to progress, I could just tell that I just didn’t feel like that he was in it the way most of the times that he is.
“So yeah, it was tough, man. It was a tough 25 minutes to travel all the way out there. Let’s not forget, this was a title fight, and I take these title fights very seriously. I was just very disappointed, man. I was disappointed with the whole entire outcome and the whole fight as a process. I just thought it was kind of flat.”
Strickland and Du Plessis had already fought for 25 minutes in their first meeting back at UFC 297. And, after Strickland fell behind early in the rematch, Nicksick implored his fighter to mix things up and use some variation in his attacks. But Strickland seemed to be stuck in a loop as he jabbed and teeped his way through rounds that saw him consistently outworked by the South African world champion.
After trying to impart his advice and direction from the corner, to see Strickland stuck in second gear was frustrating for Nicksick to see as a coach, as he explained his emotions as he watched the fight play…
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