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Sean Strickland is coming off the heels of what is inarguably the greatest win of his career. 'Tarzan' just dethroned Israel Adesanya as the UFC middleweight champion this past Saturday at UFC 293 in a lopsided affair that started with him as the biggest betting underdog in 185-pound history.
However, ahead of the bout, Strickland didn't seem fully confident in his ability to beat Adesanya, as he openly spoke about taking damage in the bout, while claiming that his only concern was the fight purse. But in an interview with the Schmo, Eric Nicksick, Sean Strickland's coach, spoke about changing his mindset.
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According to Nicksick, who works at Xtreme Couture, Strickland was initially uncertain about his prospects of winning a fight against 'The Last Stylebender,' as were many other fighters, before a conversation between them inspired him to victory. When going into detail, Nicksick said the following (at 10:46 minutes):
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"He was just very unsure. I could feel his energy. I looked at him, I said 'Hey bro, we're gonna win this fight and you gotta believe it as much as I do'... After the fight, he is like 'I didn't know, I didn't believe it and then I saw how much you believed in me and it made me believe in myself.'"
Fortunately, for Sean Strickland, his coach's motivational talk lit enough of a fire in him to pursue the win and follow their game plan to perfection. Now, 'Tarzan' is the middleweight champion and the author of what is arguably the biggest upset in middleweight history, and potentially the greatest-ever UFC upset as a whole.
What happened to Sean Strickland's title belt?
Just days after enthroning himself as the UFC's 185-pound champion, Sean Strickland took to social media to reveal that he had already damaged his championship belt. In a short clip, he reveals that one of his title's small gold plates is no longer securely fastened to the leather strap.
To fix it, Strickland retrieved a roll of duct tape and simply taped the gold plate to the leather, before declaring the belt to be as good as new. Given that Strickland himself claimed that he didn't care about the belt after winning it, it should come as no surprise to fans that he's already damaged it.
