Sean Strickland, the calculated enterprise man?
That new moniker got here as a shock to Strickland’s head coach Eric Nicksick. After shedding the middleweight title to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297, Strickland defeated Paulo Costa through cut up determination at UFC 302 in June, then proclaimed that he’ll keep on the sidelines till he will get his probability to regain the belt — one he and Nicksick consider he ought to nonetheless have.
“The man’s a mercenary, it’s simply he goes to the very best bidder — like, ‘You need me to struggle so and so, on this present day, this time, 4 days’ discover? No matter, I’ll do it,’” Nicksick instructed MMA Preventing. “Predominant occasion vs. Abus [Magomedov], ‘Tremendous, no drawback, I’ll struggle him.’
“However yeah, he’s truly gotten just a little smarter over time, and I agree with him, man, wholeheartedly. I utterly perceive the place he’s coming from. Why danger preventing a man as nice as Robert Whitaker when, in my thoughts, he’s by no means actually misplaced the belt?”
The title will likely be on the road on the upcoming UFC 305 pay-per-view occasion as du Plessis defends in opposition to Israel Adesanya, who returns for the primary time since Strickland defeated him to develop into champ at UFC 293 this previous September.
Although it’s dangerous to sit down on the sidelines, Nicksick believes the storylines Strickland has with each fighters places him in an amazing place for a rematch both approach.
“That was such an in depth struggle in opposition to Dricus,” Nicksick mentioned. “He dominated Izzy. I believe if Izzy wins that struggle, that’s a simple rematch. Izzy’s going to wish to attempt to get that revenge, and if Dricus wins, I believe that you just put that to relaxation and provides Sean the chance to avenge that loss. So each of them make sense to me. I believe Sean has a declare on the subsequent shot at that belt and, you recognize, sit on it. I imply, these guys struggle subsequent week, so we may struggle by November or December.”
Whereas Strickland feels he has earned his probability for a second title reign, UFC booked a large 185-pound matchup between former champion Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev for the co-main occasion of UFC 308 in October.
Regardless of the excessive stakes of Whittaker vs. Chimaev, Nicksick is assured that no matter is meant to occur will occur.
“I’m not likely involved in any respect,” Nicksick mentioned. “You made your mattress, you need to sleep in it. So after a calculated danger, if the promotion decides to move you up, that’s on the promotion. That’s as much as them. We don’t make that decision, however I believe he’s doing the suitable factor. He was taken care of, he’s obtained cash within the financial institution, he’s coaching every single day like he can be if he had a title struggle arising on Aug. 17. So he’s within the health club and he’s working, that’s all I can actually ask for.
“Issues can shake out in another way and we all know that, however once more, the identical alternative that arose when it was alleged to be Izzy vs. Dricus the primary time, we obtained handed up after which Dricus couldn’t make the struggle, we obtained the chance, we took it, we ran with it. So I’m not too apprehensive about it. It’s what it’s and we’ll see the way it shakes out.”
