Sean Strickland's coach criticizes his protégé's performance after UFC 312 loss

Sean Strickland lost to Dricus du Plessis No. UFC 312 (Photo: Instagram)

the performance of Sean Strickland during the defeat to Dricus du Plessis No. UFC 312 not only frustrated the fighter's fans, but also members of his team. Eric Nicksick, the American's head coach, spoke for the first time since the event on Tuesday (11), and made it clear that he did not like the performance of the former UFC middleweight champion (up to 83,9 kg) last Saturday (8).

See too

Tatiana Suarez shocks by revealing the condition of the wound on her leg after UFC 312

Israel Adesanya opens up and 'blames' Alex Poatan for fueling historic rivalry

UFC Champion Shows Creativity and Details How He Would Beat Dricus Du Plessis in a Superfight

“To me, it was just an uninspired fight. It felt like he was sleepwalking. It was tough, man. I was trying to get him out of it during the rounds. I didn’t know if he was trying to collect data at the beginning, or if it was just a slow start or what was going on, but as the rounds started to progress, I realized. I just didn’t feel like he was there like most of the time,” Nicksick said in a statement. Ariel Helwani Show.

In fact, it was possible to observe the strong demands of the coach for Strickland as the rounds went by. Despite this, two of the three judges scored all five rounds in favor of Du Plessis, who also broke the American's nose with a strong right hand at a certain point in the fight.

Sean Strickland's nose #UFC312

Final round up NEXT! pic.twitter.com/EWT9GSojNY

- UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) February 9, 2025

Nicksick couldn't hide his frustration. During the conversation with the Canadian reporter, he also talked about some of Strickland's technical aspects and stated the need to increase his repertoire to get back on track for the belt.

“The jab and front kick are not going to win the fight. You have to take risks. You have to do something creative. Just jabbing and coming in to try to turn the fight around isn’t going to work. So it’s like, man, throw a head kick on the same side, throw some knees up the middle. Throw something different that’s not predictable from what Dricus has seen in the last nine rounds, you know? You have to mix it up,” the coach said.

Dricus du Plessis e Sean Strickland took revenge on UFC 312. Photo: Reproduction/Twitter/UFC

Finally, he said he was very depressed by the fighter's performance, and also confessed to having had a conversation with the South African after the end of the fight.

“I even told Dricus after the fight, ‘Man, I wish he would have given you a better fight. You deserved a better fight than that. He didn’t have to do much.’ I felt like Dricus saw how Sean was fighting and minimized all the risks he had to take, and just did his job and walked away from there 25 minutes scot-free,” he concluded.