Sean Strickland, after losing his middleweight title to Dricus du Plessis and winning a split decision against Paulo Costa, plans to wait for a title rematch rather than taking risky fights, which his coach Eric Nicksick supports, believing Strickland has strong claims for the next shot at the belt.
Sean Strickland, the calculated businessman?
That new moniker came as a shock to Strickland’s head coach Eric Nicksick. After losing the middleweight title to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297, Strickland defeated Paulo Costa via split decision at UFC 302 in June. Then he proclaimed he’d stay on the sidelines until he gets his chance to regain the belt — one he and Nicksick believe he should still have.
“The guy’s a mercenary, it’s just he goes to the highest bidder — like, ‘You want me to fight so and so, on this day, this time, four days’ notice? Whatever, I’ll do it,’” Nicksick told MMA Fighting. “Main event vs. Abus [Magomedov], ‘Fine, no problem, I’ll fight him.’
“But yeah, he’s actually gotten a little smarter over the years, and I agree with him, man, wholeheartedly. I completely understand where he’s coming from. Why risk fighting a guy as great as Robert Whitaker when, in my mind, he’s never really lost the belt?”
The title will be on the line at the upcoming UFC 305 pay-per-view event as du Plessis defends against Israel Adesanya. Adesanya returns for the first time since Strickland defeated him to become champ at UFC 293 this past September.
Even though it’s risky to sit on the sidelines, Nicksick believes the storylines Strickland has with both fighters put him in a great position for a rematch either way.
“That was such a close fight against Dricus,” Nicksick said. “He dominated Izzy. I think if Izzy wins that fight, that’s an easy rematch. Izzy’s going to want to try to get that revenge. And if Dricus wins, I think that you put that to rest and give Sean the opportunity to avenge that loss. So both of them make sense to me. I think Sean has a claim at the next shot at that belt and, you know, sit on it. I mean, these guys fight next week, so we could fight by November or December.”
While Strickland feels he has earned his chance for a second title reign, UFC booked a massive 185-pound matchup between former champion Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev for the co-main event of UFC 308 in October.
Despite the high stakes of Whittaker vs. Chimaev, Nicksick is confident that whatever is supposed to happen will happen.
“I’m not really concerned at all,” Nicksick said. “You made your bed; you have to sleep in it. So after a calculated risk, if the promotion decides to pass you up, that’s on the promotion. That’s up to them.
We don’t make that call, but I think he’s doing the right thing. He was taken care of; he’s got money in the bank; he’s training every day like he would be if he had a title fight coming up on Aug. 17. So he’s in the gym and he’s working; that’s all I can really ask for.
Things can shake out differently and we know that. But again, the same opportunity that arose when it was supposed to be Izzy vs. Dricus the first time — we got passed up and then Dricus couldn’t make the fight; we got the opportunity; we took it; we ran with it.
So I’m not too worried about it. It is what it is and we’ll see how it shakes out.”