Sean Strickland’s pre-fight antics led to the necessity of having a bodyguard. Indeed, in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, Eric Nicksick shed light on the special forces bodyguard assigned to them by the UFC. Nicksick is the man behind ‘Tarzan,’ the coach who played a pivotal role in guiding Strickland to victory over Israel Adesanya and securing the championship belt.

Nicksick mentioned that they were already treading on “thin ice” when Strickland punched a fan in the gut. Furthermore, Strickland openly discussed this incident with the press during a pre-fight conference. What Strickland may not have realized at the time was that this could potentially lead to legal trouble and even his removal from the fight card. The situation could have escalated rapidly, so it’s understandable why the coach is keen on avoiding a similar scenario in the future.

Sean Strickland gets a fun bodyguard to look after him

Speaking to Helwani Sean told him how he got to hear about the fan incident. It happened when the team landed in Australia and there was only one occasion when Coach Nicksick wasn’t around. That’s when a fan came up to Sean Strickland and ended up getting punched.

“. . .this is that the one day I’m not there I’m actually watching the Florida State game,” he said, “and uh you know I get a call and they’re like yeah I guess some fan came up to Sean started talking and Sean just gave him a writ like just a little bumper so I don’t even know it wasn’t like he hit the guy hard or something.”

At first, it didn’t seem like anything at all. The coach told Helwani how it sort of ” flew under the radar” until the fighter talked about it in the press. Thankfully, the UFC only gave Sean a warning and a bodyguard.

Also Read: “I Will Forever Feel Like a Pu**y in Comparison…”: Sean Strickland Shares a “Savage” Story About His Bodyguard That Dana White and Co. Gave Him After He Punched a Fan in Australia Ahead of UFC 293

“So we ended up getting assigned a bodyguard,” said Eric, “and this dude was yeah Luke The Bodyguard. “This guy was Australian Special Forces. Seven deployments, five in Iraq, or five in Afghanistan, two in Iraq. This dude was absolutely the highlight of our week man, he was so much fun so much energy.”

Strickland’s bodyguard stole the show completely

The Californian fighter had to cut a few pounds of weight before his fight and things can get a little frustrating when you’re on a diet and training all day. Nicksick mentioned how Luke’s presence made Sean get back into his routine. He recalled a funny exchange the two of them had.

“Sean was cutting weight and you know he had a couple pounds to go and he started bickering,” he said with a grin on his face. “And then Luke’s like yeah man I remember that one time when I was in Ramadi, and you know, our unit got blown up and the guy next to me got blown to smithereens and this and shot up and,this guy and I was the only one live and I shoot my way out.”

The speech sounds fairly graphic and perfectly brutal. That was just what Sean needed to hear to get back to work. Since Luke was clearly not having any of the “bickering.” Nicksick further expressed how Strickland reacted to it.

“Sean is like your story is like oh well, I guess I’ll go cut this weight then yeah because Luke’s over here just giving us sh*t about it. Man, he was awesome. He was an MVP of the week that he really stole the show for us.”

Maybe ‘Luke, The Bodyguard’ should get more credit for Strickland’s victory over Adesanya. We’re unsure about their current connection, but he was undoubtedly a standout even before the main event. Now, with Adesanya out of the way, will Strickland keep himself safe, or will another fan come in his way? Hopefully, things go smoother in the future.

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