Coach Eric Nicksick gets brutally honest about preparing Sean Strickland for Dricus du Plessis title fight at UFC 312: "He hates watching tape"

UFC 312, set for Feb. 9 in Sydney, Australia, will see middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis defend his title against Sean Strickland in a highly anticipated rematch. Strickland's coach Eric Nicksick has shared his take on his pupil's preparation ahead of the fight.

This marks du Plessis’ second title defense after submitting Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, while Strickland earned his shot with a victory over Paulo Costa at UFC 302.

Nicksick opened up about the challenges of preparing his fighter for the rematch. Reflecting on their razor-close first bout, which ended in a split decision favoring du Plessis, Nicksick emphasized the need for a strategic overhaul.

Nicksick admitted, describing the difficulty of getting Strickland to embrace a disciplined approach:

"He hates watching tapes but it's like dude you want to win or not, I don't want to hear none of this. You don't want to watch this or that, we're trying to help you and show you these things. And then now it's about adapting him into sparring. He doesn't really drill. I've got him drilling now. Today, dutch drills today, come in, what a dutch drill, its reps motherf**er! You're getting more and more reps. So we're trying to help you gain these reps and then when your body is moving doing these things that we're asking you to do, more apt to do it live."

He further added:

"Man I'll tell you what, we go back and watch the tape, we didn't do enough. And the things kept telling him. You fought Israel [Adesanya] with nothing to lose. You fought Dricus not to lose."

Check out Eric Nicksick's post below:

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Sean Strickland challenges Dricus du Plessis to strike-only fight for UFC 312 showdown

Sean Strickland has issued a bold challenge to Dricus du Plessis ahead of their UFC 312 title clash, proposing a "pact" for a stand-up fight with no wrestling or grappling.

Known for his unconventional striking, Strickland is urging du Plessis to avoid ground techniques and engage in a striking battle. In his typically brash style, Strickland said:

''Listen Dutchman, I'm going to need you to be a fu**ing man and I'm gonna need you to stand up, not go to your knees, and we're gonna need to fu**ing strike like men. I know you like to wrestle, and you like to fu**ing choke people out and do some gay sh*t, dude but I'll make a pact with you. You make a pact with me that we fu**ing stand up like fu**ing men and we settle this sh*t like men.''

Check out Sean Strickland's post aimed at Dricus du Plessis below: