Sean Strickland’s coach clears up ‘true intentions’ behind UFC 312 comments

Coach Eric Nicksick admits he made a mistake criticizing Sean Strickland after UFC 312.

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Eric Nicksick wasn't trying to kick Sean Strickland while he was down at UFC 312, he was trying to lift him up.

Team Strickland The Last Time Out

The former UFC middleweight champion and the coach that helped get him there could be on better terms a few weeks removed from Strickland's last fight against Dricus du Plessis in Sydney, Australia. Strickland showed up gunshy in the rematch, despite Nicksick and his team telling him to throw the kitchen sink.

Former UFC fighter suggests Jon Jones retire instead of facing Tom Aspinall

Nicksick's corner advice was received well, just not by Strickland, who ended up losing by unanimous decision.

Sean Strickland was largely dominated during his rematch with Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312. / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Strickland's longtime coach did receive criticism after the fact for what he said about his fighter's 'uninspiring performance', noting he was interested in coaching world champions... if that's where Strickland's mindset was still at.

"I think [Sean Strickland] needs to evaluate what he wants to do in the sport. If it's just to make money, then that's great. Let us know.

I wanna coach world champions. My motivations are different. Just to kind of show up and do that and not really back it up, to me, was just… pic.twitter.com/wVl4JFnORK

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 11, 2025

Eric Nicksick Addresses Controversy

Outspoken as usual, Strickland sort of discharged Nicksick from his coaching staff in a recent video, saying he'd 'probably not' corner him for his next fight.

Ex-champion Miesha Tate gets opportunity to climb rankings at UFC Fight Night in May

"Looking back at it, I made a mistake," Nicksick responded when UFC veteran Matt Brown said coaches shouldn't criticize their fighters publicly. "My true intentions were to try and motivate him publicly. And that was a miscalculation on my part.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MMA Fighting (@mmafighting)

Time will tell if we'll see Eric Nicksick in the corner of Sean Strickland again.

More UFC & MMA News

• UFC lightweight contender turns in early retirement at 31 years old

• Merab Dvalishvili’s coach talks Cory Sandhagen, prefers UFC superfight

• ‘They’re so violent,’ Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley not the biggest fan of MMA fighting

• UFC’s ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson wouldn’t fight in BKFC 'even if there was kicking'

Stick with MMA Knockout for more daily coverage of the UFC, MMA, and Boxing.

Follow MMA Knockout on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.