Sean Strickland's head coach comments on the brewing rivalry with Khamzat Chimaev… 'They're probably messaging each other'
12/11/2024 09:04 AM
At UFC 310 this past Saturday, it was announced on the live broadcast that Dricus Du Plessis will defend his middleweight title against Sean Strickland at UFC 312.
The news comes after Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev have continuously gone back and forth with each other online, hinting at a potential fight.
Following Chimaev’s win over Robert Whittaker this past October at UFC 308, Du Plessis revealed that he wanted to fight ‘Borz’ next instead of Sean Strickland, despite Dana White having previously promised Strickland the next shot.
Eric Nicksick comments on the brewing rivalry between Strickland and Chimaev
Since losing his title to ‘Stillknocks’ back in January, Strickland has only fought once since, picking up a split decision win over Paulo Costa.
Following the passive performance, fans weren’t exactly calling for Strickland to get the next shot, as Chimaev was coming off the back of a win against Kamaru Usman and was scheduled to take on Whittaker.
Chimaev then went on to submit ‘The Reaper’ in round one in emphatic fashion, which led to fans calling for him to be given the next shot.
Despite that, Chimaev recently revealed that he was already scheduled to be in Sydney on February 9 as he has seminars booked in and is scheduled for fan meet and greets.
Following the announcement of the UFC 312 main event, Strickland and Chimaev have gone at each other online, marking the beginning of a potential rivalry.
The Chechen has previously trained with Strickland at Xtreme Couture under head coach, Eric Nicksick, and they seemingly got on with each other.
The world-class coach has commented on the brewing rivalry between the two, stating that they’re ‘probably messaging each other’ and building a rivalry.
“Sure, yeah (they’re trying to build a rivalry), they’re probably messaging each other telling them what they’re gonna say next, who knows but they seemed like they got on just fine when they were training at the gym,” Nicksick told Submission Radio.
“I loved having Khamzat in the gym, I loved having Darren Till in the gym. They elevated the game for us so it was nice and everyone got along just fine but I get it now.
“They’re right there within striking distance of fighting, maybe you have to build that bad blood amongst one another to go and fight but as far I saw, when they were training together, they were all good,” Nicksick continued.
Nicksick tells Strickland to stop feeling sorry for himself ahead of rematch
Since losing the title, Strickland has continuously claimed that the decision was a ‘robbery’ and that he won the fight.
However, his head coach, Nicksick, has said that he needs to stop feeling sorry for himself ahead of the rematch and put the first fight behind him if he wishes to seek revenge.
“Here’s the thing, stop feeling sorry for yourself, that the narrative of like, ‘Oh we were robbed’… The fights over, DDP has won the belt and now has defended the belt so it’s almost like a clean fresh slate,” Nicksick said.
