Sean Strickland opens up about his ‘mixed’ relationship along with his head coach ahead of UFC 328

Sean Strickland and his head coach proceed to have their differences ahead of his UFC 328 title fight.

On Saturday night, Sean Strickland will look to place his last two title fights behind him when he challenges Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight title within the UFC 328 essential event.

The pair are extremely acquainted with one another’s skillsets having previously trained together at Xtreme Couture under the tutelage of Eric Nicksick.

The longtime head coach has been critical of Strickland over the past few years, and he criticized him earlier this yr for talking about previous training sessions with Chimaev.

If Sean Strickland is in a position to stop Khamzat Chimaev’s dominant wrestling, how much of a likelihood do you give him?🤔

Sean Strickland is believed to have the striking advantage over Khamzat Chimaev.

Strickland says he and Nicksick have a ‘mixed relationship’

Following his second loss to Dricus Du Plessis last yr, Nicksick labeled Strickland’s performance as ‘uninspired fighting’ which led to the pair having a giant disagreement.

The previous middleweight champion then went on to fireside Nicksick following his comments, before re-appointing him for his UFC Houston fight earlier this yr.

And regardless that the pair have seemingly reconciled since their disagreements, ahead of his title fight this Saturday, Strickland has admitted that their relationship is ‘mixed’.

“Me and Eric have a mixed relationship where it’s like, I’ll say this tactfully, should you’ve never fought or been within the gym, you don’t have an understanding,” Strickland said during a UFC 328 media scrum.

“Eric is a superb coach, he’s a superb striking coach but should you’ve never fought, you simply don’t understand.”

Nicksick doesn’t have a background in competing in MMA and his journey into the game began following his college football profession.

Heading into his UFC 312 fight, Strickland went into it with a broken arm and he didn’t tell his coach beforehand, which Strickland believes made Nicksick feel ‘betrayed’.

“I don’t really talk much, I don’t tell my problems to people so I believe Eric felt a bit of upset that I used to be going right into a title fight with a broken arm and he had no knowledge of it.”

Having seen ‘Borz’ and Strickland going at it within the training room, Nicksick is potentially one of the best coach for the previous champion to have behind him as he looks to reclaim his 185lb title.