The blowback on Sean Strickland for his performance at UFC 312 continues. And now it seems his head coach is ready to move on from him if he can’t back up his bold claims.
Sean Strickland has been a divisive fighter for the MMA world leader. He rose to notoriety as much for his counterculture opinions as his fight skills. However, at one point there was no denying his skills inside the Octagon. You don’t win a UFC world title and beat men like middleweight great Israel Adesanya without special talent.
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However, he has made bold claims about the lengths he will go to win inside the Octagon. But in recent fights, he has looked more like a point fighter instead of a rabid dog looking to die inside the cage. That was again the case at UFC 312.
Over five rounds, the former middleweight champion showed little urgency to go out and take back the belt he lost a year ago to opponent Dricus Du Plessis. His performance has been panned across the MMA spectrum. However, on Tuesday, his head coach Eric Nicksick was the latest to question how serious he is about being a champion again in the UFC.
- Sean Strickland record: 29-7 (11 knockouts, 4 submissions)
Sean Strickland’s head coach publicly questions his heart after UFC 312 performance
“I think he needs to evaluate what he wants to do in the sport,” Nick began by saying. “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 kind of uninspiring.”
Nicksick is one of the best coaches in all of MMA and helped lead Francis Ngannou to the UFC heavyweight title several years ago. He is also one of the most respected in the sport. If he has big doubts about Sean Strickland’s real motivations in MMA that is a very bad sign for the 33-year-old.
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