Sean Strickland reveals issue with coach before Chimaev fight

Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty Images

Sean Strickland and his head coach aren’t exactly seeing eye to eye in the lead-up to his title bout at UFC 328.

This weekend, Strickland will attempt to move past the setbacks from his last two title fights when he faces Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight belt in the main event.

They’re no strangers, having trained together at Xtreme Couture under Eric Nicksick, who’s been vocal about his thoughts on Strickland over the years. Earlier this year, Nicksick took issue with him discussing old training sessions with Chimaev.

Strickland says his relationship with Nicksick is complicated

Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

After Sean Strickland’s second loss to Dricus Du Plessis in 2023, Eric Nicksick publicly criticised his performance as ‘uninspired fighting’, which sparked a heated exchange between the two.

The former champion responded by cutting ties with Nicksick, though he later brought him back into his corner for the UFC Houston event earlier this year.

While the two have patched things up since then, Strickland recently acknowledged that their relationship still isn’t entirely smooth.

“Me and Eric have a mixed relationship where it’s like, I’ll say this tactfully, if you’ve never fought or been in the gym, you don’t have an understanding,” Strickland said during a UFC 328 media scrum.

Nicksick doesn’t have a background in competing in MMA and his journey into the sport began following his college football career.

Going into his UFC 312 title fight against Du Plessis with a broken arm. Strickland didn’t tell Nicksick about the injury beforehand and believes that lack of communication played a role in their split after the fight.