Eric Nicksick laments criticizing Sean Strickland so soon after UFC 312: 'I f*cked up'

With time to reflect, Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick wishes he hadn’t publicly spoken about Sean Strickland’s losing performance at UFC 312 so soon afterward.

Strickland was dominated by UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and suffered a broken nose in their rematch, which ended with Du Plessis securing an easy unanimous decision by scores of 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46. Strickland, known for his basic style of fighting, didn’t do anything differently to push Du Plessis after complaining that he was robbed in their first fight in February 2024.

Just a few days after UFC 312, Nicksick appeared on “The Ariel Helwani Show” and criticized Strickland.

“It was just uninspired fighting to me,” Nicksick said. “It just seemed like he was sleepwalking. … It was a tough 25 minutes to travel all the way out there. Let’s not forget, this was a title fight. I take these title fights very seriously, and I don’t know. I was just very disappointed, man. I was disappointed with the whole entire outcome and the whole fight as a process. I just thought it was kind of flat.”

Nicksick continued, “I think he needs to evaluate what he wants to do in this sport. If it’s just to make money, then that’s great. Let us know. I want to coach world champions, so my motivations are different.”

Tuesday on his “Verse Us” podcast, Nicksick expressed regret for how he spoke about Strickland. Nicksick explained that he primary mistake was accepting the invitation from Helwani given the timing of just returning to Las Vegas after a long flight from Sydney.

On top of that, Nicksick said 30 minutes before he went on Helwani’s show, Strickland opened up about his mindset in the weeks leading up to the fight, and that’s what threw him for a loop.

“It was very disappointing to hear where his headspace was and what his thought process was about being a champion or all these things. That’s personal,” Nicksick said. “I should’ve known better. I took that energy and had to process that while I go on Ariel’s show. I f*cked up. I f*cked up. … I made a miscalculation in that moment in ever accepting to go on the show.”

Nicksick said he didn’t necessarily regret being critical of Strickland but that he could’ve worded his message better.

“My wording was piss poor,” Nicksick said. “What I said was accurate, about the fight was uninspiring. We all know Sean. That is not how Sean fights. What I said was accurate. Am I to shoulder some of that blame? A hundred percent. I said that, as a staff, it’s on us. I’ve always said that. But his output, his body lamguage, his demeanor, all those things, it did not feel like Sean. And if anybody thinks that I should’ve f*cking lied to cover, I’m not a good coach. That’s a yes man, and I won’t be that.”