Not way back, Eric Nicksick was the most well liked coach in MMA, with fighters like Francis Ngannou, Sean Strickland, and others serving to to deliver glory to the Xtreme Couture fitness center in Las Vegas.
Nicksick hasn’t been so fortunate in 2025. Strickland did not regain the middleweight title from Dricus du Plessis. Former Bellator champion Patchy Combine’s UFC debut was a bust. And Nicksick was simply at UFC APEX this previous weekend watching his fighter Roman Dolidze lose a lopsided battle to Anthony Hernandez.
On his Verse Us podcast, Nicksick spoke about his current struggles within the nook and supplied an replace on his public fallout with Strickland after Nicksick criticized the fighter following his loss to du Plessis in February.
“The Strickland state of affairs in all probability put a damaging gentle on me for a few of the issues that I mentioned, however all of us know-the individuals inside know-where my coronary heart was and what I used to be getting at, what the intent was,” Nicksick mentioned. “It didn’t come off the way in which that it wanted to and the way in which I want it could have, so in plenty of that I’m going to put on plenty of hate due to the way in which it got here off to some individuals. Once more, it was a mistake on my half and I want I might have worded it higher.
“Sean and I are on nice phrases. We discuss on daily basis. … He’s my brother. Brothers argue. On the finish of the day, Sean knew the place my coronary heart was, Sean knew what I used to be getting at, and we now have to be higher as an entire, myself included. It was actually just like the week after that entire factor and Sean and I have been tremendous. Again to bullshitting and speaking shit and going out taking pictures and doing our factor. The one factor, too, possibly I’m not the proper coach for him in that second, however Sean’s all the time going to be a buddy and a useful resource.”
Strickland is at the moment serving a suspension for a post-match assault of a fighter at a Tuff-N-Uff occasion in Las Vegas this previous June, however Nicksick mentioned he has been a frontrunner within the fitness center even with no fights on the horizon. Their temporary dispute seems to be a factor of the previous.
Transferring ahead, Nicksick isn’t positive precisely what he wants to assist his fighters be higher ready and get his workforce again on monitor. For now, he’s preserving issues in perspective even with the net critics popping out of the woodwork.
“There’s nonetheless areas that I really feel like I would like to enhance on, I actually do,” Nicksick mentioned. “This can be a fixed change and evolution, evolving sport. Am I caught in my outdated methods of doing issues or do I must reinvent? Do I must step exterior and possibly decelerate and never coach as many individuals? I don’t know.”
“I’ve been blessed within the regards of plenty of reward through the years and it’s like, OK, now I’m going to get hit with plenty of criticism, too, as a result of the expectations are very excessive for our fighters and our fitness center and the product that we put out,” Nicksick added. “General, this has been a really profitable 12 months. Then you definitely lose three and also you’re like, ‘That is the worst ever.’ However I’m OK with that as a result of like I’ve mentioned earlier than, I don’t need dropping to really feel good or to really feel regular or be OK with it.”
No matter any points Nicksick or his workforce may be experiencing, none of that had something to do with Dolidze’s loss to Hernandez within the UFC Vegas 109 most important occasion. Nicksick believes Dolidze was well-prepared, however that there are few middleweights who can deal with Hernandez proper now.
“Hats off,” Nicksick mentioned. “‘Fluffy’ did the job and never solely did the job, however executed it effectively and did it at a championship-level tempo. I don’t assume there was too many guys that would beat Fluffy final evening. I feel he was simply actually on his recreation and hats off, we bought our ass handed to us.”
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$7.7 billion deal and bonuses are going up? Simply think about how cringe the post-fight interviews are going to be now with fighters begging for more cash. However I suppose it could be naive to assume they’d simply scrap the bonuses and award everybody with a end a bonus. Alas.
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