Sean Strickland’s ire toward Dricus Du Plessis ahead of their UFC 297 middleweight title fight is legitimate, according to his head coach Eric Nicksick.
What started as a fairly routine title booking between Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) and Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) for the Jan. 20 pay-per-view headliner at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto has turned both physical and personal in the lead-up to the event.
During a seasonal press conference earlier this month, Strickland and Du Plessis used their first face-to-face opportunity to hurl personal insults and, in the case of a challenger, cut deep with some harsh words. The next night at UFC 296 in Las Vegas, Strickland jumped Du Plessis in a viral cageside skirmish, adding to the tension between the two sides.
The multiple incidences resonated with the champion in the eyes of Xtreme Couture coach Nicksick, who got to see the fallout of it all with Strickland in the days that followed. He admitted Strickland was affected by what unfolded, but it’s his job to work with the fighter to ensure it’s spun into something positive.
“There’s two sides to that coin: Sean has no problem saying what he says about everybody else, so people are going to probably poke and say things about him, as well,” Nicksick told MMA Junkie Radio. “I think it’s a tough row to (hoe), so you can’t get too emotional about those situations. They are just words, but at the end of the day, I did feel like he was triggered and there was a few days where it just kind of motivated him.
“The motivation was (already) there, believe me. But I wanted him to understand we need to have the right motivation. It didn’t need to be this infuriated guy going in there like, ‘I want to kill this guy,’ because that takes us out of our game. It takes us out of our element and what we’re good at. He’s been great ever since then. We had a good conversation about that, and I just told him I was proud of him.”
Nicksick does admit this element of the fight can’t be dismissed as nothing. Strickland has shown in his past fights that emotional and ego can impact him. Whether it’s his decision to stand and strike with Alex Pereira in his July 2022 knockout loss, or his screaming at Israel Adesanya in the octagon during his UFC 293 upset title win in September, emotion has both fuelled Strickland and reared its ugly head.
If Strickland, 32, can’t channel everything properly, Nicksick thinks it will cause additional problems with Du Plessis, 29, on fight night.
“I did say, ‘Hey, fighting emotional is not who we are,'” Nicksick said. “And stylistically, I think that favors Dricus more. It opens us up more, so we need to stick with our game plan and stick with what we want to do and don’t allow your emotions to take this over.”
Aside from the potential repercussions in the fight itself, Nicksick is not bothered by Strickland’s unique way of presenting his character in the sport. Whether he’s loved or despised, it’s obvious his life trauma has generated a certain edge to his personality.
At times, it seemed that might be the one thing that truly held Strickland back in his career. But now, Nicksick thinks it’s arguably what’s buoying him most.
“I don’t think a lot of people really understand the amount of people that reached out to me after he won (against Adesanya),” Nicksick said. “He speaks for a demographic, and so many people I think have this type of upbringing where they had parents that might’ve been abusive, or they dealt with a broken home and all these things Sean might’ve dealt with. He’s kind of their voice in a lot of ways. But what they’re seeing now is someone becoming successful, and that motivation for them is huge because they know they can do it, too.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.
