Sean Strickland’s head coach reacts to potential pre-fight chaos with Khamzat Chimaev ahead of UFC 328 grudge match

Nicksick says his dealings with Chimaev over the years have been great, and they’ve even talked since the fight was booked with both men going out of their way to send good blessings the other way. However, the two are on opposite sides of the cage Saturday night.

“My experiences with him have only been wonderful, to be honest with you,” Nicksick said. “He’s very giving with his knowledge, especially when he was in the room. There’s a lot of things that we try to pick up on that he was doing that I think has helped our game a ton. Ironically, Francis [Ngannou] is using some of that stuff today in practice, So my experiences with him have always been great.

“I think we’ve always maintained a friendly relationship and unfortunately, this is a fight we have to compete against each other, but other than that, it’s all respect on my end and we have a job to do. I’m not the one going in there to fight, man. I just got to go in there and execute a game plan.”

Nicksick said the good thing about the title fight being booked so soon after Strickland’s win is that his fighter remained in great shape, and Strickland didn’t have the time to “balloon” up. Additionally, there were some similarities to the game plan coming off of the Hernandez fight, especially with the insane pace and grappling prowess “Fluffy” typically brings to the table.

While some things are similar, Nicksick sees a glaring difference in Chimaev’s game compared to Hernandez.

“I think Khamzat’s a much different striker, stylistically, than Fluffy,” Nicksick said. “Khamzat uses stance switches a lot in motion. He’ll drift to southpaw. He has a real good head inside double out of south. He has a really good kicking game. There’s a lot of other things offensively that I think Khamzat does differently and maybe a little bit better that we have to incorporate into this camp.

“And I think that’s why it’s nice having Johnny Eblen in because Johnny’s well versed in all aspects of MMA and a world-class wrestler in his own right. So that’s kind of why we brought him into camp and I thought he would be a great addition to help us.”

While Xtreme Couture has had some big moments, and multiple world champions being crowned, Nicksick was asked what a Strickland upset win would do for him, his fighter, and the rest of the competitors and athletes in the gym, especially with Strickland being one of the main leaders in the room.

“I think it’d be huge, especially it being Khamzat and knowing that this is an undefeated fighter that really no one’s had, in my opinion, a chance to try and beat him,” Nicksick said. “So for us to be able to go out there and beat a guy with his stature, I think he’s top three, top four in the world right now, it’d be huge for everybody, man, especially for Sean.

“We know that our guy has the capabilities and the attributes to be able to go out there and do that.”