Sean Strickland's coach looks back at Dewey Cooper's "epic" 'I believe' speech prior to Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou fight 

Sean Strickland’s coach took a trip down memory lane, recalling the motivational speech Dewey Cooper delivered to Francis Ngannou in the locker room ahead of his fight against then-WBC-heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.

‘The Predator’ went toe-to-toe with Fury in his first boxing assignment. Despite a hard-fought battle that ended in a split-decision loss, fans and pundits alike were impressed by Ngannou's remarkable performance.

Strickland’s coach, Erick Nicksick, reminisced about Cooper’s motivational speech in the locker room before the fight. Discussing the epic moment with Cooper on a podcast, Nicksick expressed regret that no one had recorded the speech. He later took to X to share the podcast clip, captioning it:

“Dewey's locker room speech was epic, and the one time he wasn't recording!!.”

Check out Erick Nicksick’s X post below:

Meanwhile, ‘Tarzan’ is set to face reigning middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis in a rematch at UFC 312 this coming February. In their first showdown, the African fighter dethroned Strickland to claim the 185-pound title and has since defended it successfully against Israel Adesanya.

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Dewey Cooper explains why he stayed silent on Sean Strickland's disrespect

Back in 2023, Sean Strickland criticized and mocked Francis Ngannou’s coach, Dewey Cooper. The former middleweight champion labeled Cooper as a 'glorified kickboxing coach' and criticized his coaching, pointing to Marvin Vettori’s poor performance against Jared Cannonier.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani on the March 4 edition of The MMA Hour, Cooper responded to Strickland’s remarks and explained why he chose not to confront him. He emphasized his good relationship with Strickland’s coach, Erick Nicksick. Cooper told Helwani:

"If the stuff Sean [Strickland] said bothered me, the whole world would've knew it 'cause it would've been bad. Don't think I'm some weak dude who just lets people disrespect him. The reason why I didn't have any kind of reply or rebuttal is because I've been at Xtreme Couture training guys there for many years, man... Eric Nicksick is like family to me."

Check out Dewey Cooper’s comments below:

Strickland last stepped into the octagon to face Paulo Costa at UFC 302. In a back-and-forth battle, he managed to secure a victory via a split decision.