Sean Strickland’s coach, Eric Nicksick, doesn’t appear pleased with his pupil’s bold claims about dominating Khamzat Chimaev in training. As the coach sees it, what transpires in the training room should stay in the training room.
For context, during the post-fight press conference following his UFC Houston knockout win over Anthony Hernandez, Strickland proclaimed that he made Chimaev quit in training while also accusing ‘Borz’ of picking less experienced opponents in the gym:
“Bro, I made him quit in training… We were doing positional grappling. I start on my back, and I was like, first round, I let him f**king choke me, because it was like positional grappling. No one gives a f**k. Let me tell you about this little b***h… Every time Chimaev walks into the gym, he would pick the smallest, lowest-level pro.”
During a recent interview with Submission Radio, Nicksick didn’t seem to approve of Strickland’s comments. As the MMA coach sees it, the public should not be privy to what transpires in training:
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“I think what happens in the training room should stay in the training room. Training is training; guys should be putting themselves in less advantageous positions to make themselves better. Thinking that just because you beat a guy in the training room, whether you’re on the A side or B side, you shouldn’t take that into the fight. What happens in the training room, I feel like, should stay in the room. I think both guys are great competitors and game opponents.”
Check out Sean Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick’s comments below:
Khamzat Chimaev claps back at Sean Strickland
Safe to say Khamzat Chimaev took notice of Sean Strickland’s bold training room claims. In a recent post on X, the Chechen-born Emirati clapped back at ‘Tarzan’, writing:
“Habibi, calm down. I destroyed the guy who beat you twice. American b***h.”
For context, at UFC 319, Chimaev captured the middleweight title with a lopsided decision win over Dricus du Plessis. Interestingly, ‘Stillknocks’ holds two wins over Strickland – A split decision at UFC 297 and a unanimous decision at UFC 312.
Chimaev is currently on hiatus from MMA, recovering from a foot injury, and is expected to return by the end of March, following Ramadan.
Edited by Ujwal Jain