Chael Sonnen defends Sean Strickland’s head coach following post-UFC 312 comments
Chael Sonnen is coming to the defense of Sean Strickland’s head coach Eric Nicksick.
Nicksick surprised many within the MMA community with some brutal honesty on his working relationship with Strickland. Nicksick made the comments during his appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” On the program, Nicksick said that his job is to train world champions. He was adamant that Strickland needs to decide what he wants to do going forward. This was after Strickland suffered a one-sided loss to Dricus du Plessis in their UFC 312 rematch.
Some felt Nicksick may have been out of line to publicly reveal the possibility that he no longer coaches Strickland, but Sonnen is defending the renowned Xtreme Couture coach.
Chael Sonnen Explains Defense of Sean Strickland’s Coach
Chael Sonnen hopped on his YouTube channel and posted a video where he came to the defense of Eric Nicksick after his comments on Sean Strickland following a tough loss.
“Why do I defend coach Nicksick? Because you know what? Communication is everything.”
Sonnen shared what he believes makes for a quality head coach. It’s knowing what to say to a fighter and how to say it.
“You go with your coach ’cause your coach knows how to give those same simple messages that you could get anywhere, he knows how to say it in a way that gets you to respond. The great coaches, they’ll know how to talk to their guy, and it’s not just in training camp leading into it. It’s the moments right before they get in the Octagon and then it’s in the round in the Octagon. They’ve got to know how to communicate, and great communicators will tell you to talk to somebody the way they talk.”
Sonnen believes that Nicksick knows how to communicate with Strickland effectively. He feels this could’ve been an effort to get Strickland back on track.
“Eric Nicksick, as a coach, was very direct,” Sonnen said. “He did not use a lot of words and he did not mince them and he not waste anyone’s time. He didn’t threaten to walk out, he didn’t bring money into it, he didn’t bring anything personal into it, he didn’t even bring profanity into it. He spoke very direct to what he saw and a potential conflict that he felt. That’s how Sean Strickland talks to people.”
Time will tell if Strickland works with Nicksick again going forward. The former UFC middleweight champion revealed he is still friends with the MMA head coach. With that said, the days of Nicksick cornering him for fights might indeed be over.
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Chael Sonnen Eric Nicksick Sean Strickland UFC
