Eric Nicksick News

Fernando Quiles Jr. - February 14, 2025

Chael Sonnen is coming to the defense of Sean Strickland’s head coach Eric Nicksick. Nicksick surprised many within the MMA community with some brutal honesty on his working relationship with Strickland. Nicksick made the comments during his appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” On the program, Nicksick said that his job is to train world champions. He was adamant that Strickland needs to decide what he wants to do going forward. This was after Strickland suffered a one-sided loss to Dricus du Plessis in their UFC 312 rematch.

Harry Kettle - February 13, 2025

Sean Strickland has provided an update on his relationship with head coach Eric Nicksick following the latter’s recent criticism. As we know, Sean Strickland fell short in his attempt to defeat Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312. He was handily beaten by the reigning champion, leaving many to wonder what’s next for him. Since then, his coach Eric Nicksick has made waves in the MMA community by criticizing Sean’s performance in the contest.

Josh Evanoff - February 11, 2025

Sean Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick has sounded off on his loss at UFC 312 over the weekend. ‘Tarzan’ returned to the octagon in the main event of the UFC’s pay-per-view offering from Australia on Saturday. There, Sean Strickland again met middleweight champion, Dricus du Plessis. ‘Stillknocks’ famously won the gold from the boxing-heavy American last year, by a controversial split decision.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - January 29, 2025

Head coach Eric Nicksick says there’s a key change in Sean Strickland’s mindset going into his championship rematch with Dricus du Plessis. Strickland and du Plessis are set to collide once again in the main event of UFC 312 on February 8th. Strickland was the UFC middleweight champion going into his first encounter with du Plessis back in early 2024. He ended up losing the title via split decision in a highly contested five-round battle.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - August 11, 2024

Eric Nicksick, the coach of Francis Ngannou, believes the former UFC Heavyweight Champion is in a good place after healing from the tragic death of his son. Ngannou publicly admitted to struggling with the loss of his son and even said retirement was a possibility. The good news is that “The Predator” seems to have been able to find himself in a good mental space.

Harry Kettle - July 2, 2024

Francis Ngannou’s head coach Eric Nicksick has provided an update regarding his return to mixed martial arts. As we know, the focus of Francis Ngannou in the last year or so has been on boxing. He stepped into the squared circle with two of the best heavyweights on the planet – Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. While he gave Fury a real run for his money, the Joshua fight went pretty poorly as he was finished in devastating fashion.

Curtis Calhoun - May 24, 2024

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland’s head coach thinks Paulo Costa presents one unique problem for them to consider at UFC 302. Strickland and Costa will square off in a five-round middleweight co-headliner at UFC 302 on June 1. The winner could potentially earn themselves a middleweight title shot, or at worst, a No. 1 contender fight.

Harry Kettle - December 13, 2023

Sean Strickland’s head coach Eric Nicksick has given his thoughts on the champion’s upcoming clash with Dricus du Plessis. Next month at UFC 297, Sean Strickland will defend his UFC middleweight championship against Dricus du Plessis. With former champ Israel Adesanya taking some time off, du Plessis has stepped up and will be the first man to try and take the belt away from Strickland.

Harry Kettle - November 2, 2023

Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick wants the UFC and PFL to work together in order to make Jon Jones vs Francis Ngannou happen. Last weekend, Francis Ngannou took Tyson Fury to the limit in his pro boxing debut. He went the distance against ‘The Gypsy King’ and even dropped him, but he wasn’t quite able to get the nod on the scorecards.

Josh Evanoff - November 1, 2023

Eric Nicksick has explained why he’s not a big fan of Francis Ngannou vs. Deontay Wilder in the PFL. ‘The Predator’ is fresh off his boxing debut earlier this month against Tyson Fury. In Saudi Arabia over the weekend, Francis Ngannou suffered a split-decision defeat to ‘The Gypsy King’. Despite the loss, many were impressed with the former UFC champion’s performance, and he quickly entered talks with Deontay Wilder, among others.

Josh Evanoff - September 12, 2023

Sean Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick had an interesting conversation with Israel Adesanya following UFC 293. ‘Tarzan’ and ‘The Last Stylebender’ faced off in the pay-per-view main event on Saturday. Entering the matchup, Sean Strickland was riding a two-fight winning streak but was a massive underdog. Luckily for the middleweight contender, Eric Nicksick did his scouting on Israel Adesanya.

Harry Kettle - January 17, 2023

Xtreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick has hit back at UFC president Dana White following his claims regarding Francis Ngannou’s release. The news that Francis Ngannou was gone from the Ultimate Fighting Championship hit hard for the MMA community. The former UFC heavyweight champion is now set to explore other options outside of the promotion, and perhaps even outside of mixed martial arts.

Jeffrey Walter - January 26, 2022

Eric Nicksick, the coach of Francis Ngannou, has praised Team Miocic for making an “unbelievably classy move” at UFC 270. Ngannou (17-3 MMA) put his UFC heavyweight championship on the line against former training partner Ciryl Gane (10-1 MMA) in the headliner of last Saturday’s pay-per-view event in Anaheim.

Mike Pendleton - March 27, 2020

Eric Nicksick has been around Xtreme Couture since 2007 and has worked with fighters from all over the world. As of now, Nicksick works with the likes of Francis Ngannou, Dan Ige, Jessica Eye, Puna Soriano and Jeremy Kennedy to name a few. Nicksick has an excellent success rate with his fighters, and he believes that’s due to his dedication to understanding why they fight.