Sean Strickland Says Eric Nicksick Likely Won’t Be in Corner After Public Critique

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— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) February 12, 2025

Eric Nicksick’s very public critique of Sean Strickland could have consequences for the Xtreme Couture coach.

Nicksick, who has been Strickland’s main coach during his rise to becoming middleweight champion, wasn’t pleased with his charge’s performance against Dricus Du Plessis in the UFC 312 main event this past Saturday. Nicksick made that very clear when he referred to it as "uninspired fighting” during a recent interview on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”

Strickland, who lost a clear-cut unanimous decision in his rematch with Du Plessis, has responded to the criticism via social media. It appears that the ex-UFC champ will no longer have Nicksick in his corner going forward.

“I like Eric. He’s a friend of mine and he’s going to continue to be a friend of mine. Will he probably be in my corner? Probably not,” Strickland said in a video on X. “We have so many great guys at Xtreme [Couture]… We have so many savages that I would love to corner me.

“But that entire fight camp was just a struggle. It was a f—king struggle. We all have excuses as to why we didn’t win or why we won and we shouldn’t have won. We all f—king have excuses and they don’t f—king matter. The only reason I’m doing this video is Eric had to go do a f—king podcast and become an influencer, so I’ve got to be like kind of explain myself.”

Strickland revealed that he suffered a broken bone in his arm approximately two months before the fight and was also dealing with a staph infection during his camp. Despite those struggles, Strickland says he did what he could to make it to fight night.

“But all camp this is just in the back of your head and you just keep telling yourself ‘I’m f—king good’ and I think this is what all men do,” Strickland said. “All men do this. You look in the mirror and even though you’re not good, you’re like ‘I’m f—king good, you’re a f—king man, you sack up.’

“But all camp whether it be the staph infection, the broken arm, having to get a visa that didn’t get approved until a week [before the fight], not being able to get cornermen out there. This entire camp was a struggle of I’m not good but me looking in a mirror and saying ‘sack up.’”

While Strickland came up short in his second attempt to recapture the middleweight crown, he claims that his passion for the sport hasn’t waned.

“You [the fans] made me grow so much as a person in the ring and out of the ring and that’s why I fight,” Strickland said. “I f—king love it. I’ve got a lot of fights left on my contract. I love fighting. I’m going back to the gym. I’m working my ass off and I’m starting from f—king square one. That’s just kind of how life is.”