By the time Sean Strickland steps back into the cage against Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez in February, it’ll have been a full year since his last fight — a lethargic and one-sided loss to Dricus Du Plessis
that cost “Tarzan” his middleweight title.
A lot happened following that defeat. Strickland’s longtime coach and friend Eric Nicksick publicly ripped into Sean for his “uninspired” performance, leading to the brash fighter suggesting he’d find himself a new coach. The rift only got bigger when it came out that Nicksick and Strickland were beefing over money issues as well. Could Sean keep his s–t on the rails without Eric as a calming force in his life?
A lengthy suspension for storming the cage and punching a teammate’s opponent in June suggested Strickland could not.
Fortunately, it sounds like he and his coach have worked things out and Nicksick will indeed be cornering Strickland when he headlines UFC Houston on February 21st.
“We’re like brothers, dude,” Nicksick told MMA Fighting. “We’re going to fight, we’re going to argue, we’re not going to see eye to eye on certain situations and scenarios. But ultimately, we’re men. We sat down and we smoothed everything out and it was all systems go from there.”
At the time, Nicksick had suggested Strickland was only fighting for a paycheck and the coach didn’t want to invest all the time and energy into someone who didn’t care about winning or losing. Strickland recently came out and admitted he fought at UFC 312 with a badly injured shoulder, which would certainly explain his timidity against “DDP.”
“I was going through a lot personally with my dad’s health, and then traveling, and away from home,” Nicksick admitted. “And all these things compiled into the way that I felt the complexion of the camp was and some of the injuries that Sean was dealing with. And it really just boils down to the fact that we just got to be better at our communication with one another, and that was it.”
“We talked about everything about a week or two after the fact. He knew where I was coming from. He knew the bottom line was. I just have a high standard of expectations for him, because I know what he’s capable of, and he knows that I love him and I care for him. We sat down and spoke it out like men, and we’re good to go. So I’ll be there in his corner.”
Strickland will need all the help he can get to stop the surging “Fluffy” Hernandez, who is on an eight fight win streak with six of those coming via finish. In comparison, Sean is 1-2 over his last three and Nicksick isn’t the only person wondering if he’s checked out and cashing in these days. That fight goes down at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, live on Paramount+.
