Francis Ngannou sends coach Eric Nicksick's "head ricocheting" during pad training

Francis Ngannou's head coach Eric Nicksick recently revealed what it's like to be holding pads for arguably the hardest hitter on the planet. According to Nicksick, his neck hurts just thinking of holding mitts for the UFC heavyweight champion.

Nicksick and Dewey Cooper, the striking coach at Xtreme Couture, sometimes have a laugh about the whole thing. Nicksick also explained that he prefers holding pads closer to his head rather than holding them lower for Ngannou's kicks. This has often resulted in his head ricocheting off the pads due to the extreme power that 'The Predator' possesses.

Nicksick said on the Veterans Minimum YouTube channel:

"It's my shoulders that shit. It's my shoulders, my neck, my neck's already hurting just talking about it. Bro, it's nasty. Dewey [Cooper] and I laugh about that all the time, it's like, 'Hey, you're up. You got this one bro'. And then like, I'll hold his left head kick...There's like videos of me like my head richocheting of a pad because he's just unbelieveable power."

Watch Nicksick's comments on Francis Ngannou below:

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When Eric Nicksick claimed that Francis Ngannou's kicks hurt worse than getting hit by a baseball bat

Francis Ngannou has been training under the tutelage of Eric Nicksick since changing camps at the end of 2018 after multiple disagreements with ‘MMA Factory’ head coach, Fernand Lopez. Ngannou defeated his former training partner and Lopez's pupil Ciryl Gane in his first heavyweight title defense earlier this year.

Going into Ngannou's UFC 270 clash against Gane, Nicksick compared Ngannou's kicks to getting hit by a baseball bat. Nicksick claimed to have had a baseball bat broken on his back without sustaining any serious injuries. However, kicks from Ngannou have left the Xtreme Couture coach unable to walk for a couple of weeks.

Nicksick said during an appearance on The MMA Hour:

“I’ve been hit in the back with a baseball bat before, and literally the bat, it broke. It was a wooden bat, it broke across my back, and it didn’t bother me one bit. Then I’ve been kicked by Francis to the point where I couldn’t walk for two weeks, man. Like, it’s bad. It hurts, man. It hurts bad."

Watch Nicksick's comments on Ngannou below (44:54):