“We Were Walking on Eggshells” – Sean Strickland’s Dream Was in Jeopardy Before Israel Adesanya Fight Amid Trouble With Authorities Ahead of UFC 293 as Claimed by Insider

Sean Strickland is an honest man. Almost too honest for his own good, as it seems his honesty nearly saw him get pulled out of his title shot against Israel Adesanya at the UFC 293 card earlier this week. This, of course, would have meant he would not have even fought for, let alone win the middleweight championship spectacularly.

His coach and coach of the year candidate, Eric Nicksick, joined journalist Ariel Helwani on his MMA Hour show on YouTube and revealed what exactly happened and why ‘Tarzan’ almost did not fight Adesanya.

Coach Erick Nicksick reveals Sean Strickland incriminated himself in Australia

The coach told Helwani that he was almost convinced the UFC would pull Sean Strickland from UFC 293. In an interview, Strickland had told Fox Sports Australia a week before the fight that he had punched a fan in the stomach, thus confessing to assault on camera. And the Australian authorities came to know about this.

“We were walking on eggshells all week, Ariel. Honest to God, I thought we were going to get pulled. I really did. They went to the beach and Sean basically incriminates himself during fight week [in an interview], ‘Yeah, this guy comes up to me talking trash and I punched him in his belly.’ Apparently, the Australian government or whoever heard this, they got word of this, and it went downhill from there,” he said.

Nicksick reveals how Strickland nearly got himself into trouble again after the punching incident blew over

Nicksick revealed that as soon as he learned that officials had gotten word of the incident, he felt sure Strickland would not be fighting Adesanya at UFC 293. “When I heard that, I was like, ‘Bro, we’re off. They’re going to pull us from this card.’ Remember, these guys probably didn’t want Sean in this spot to begin with,” Nicksick told Helwani.

READ MORE: True African Fight Interrupted as Dricus Du Plessis Can’t Believe Sean Strickland Dropped Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in One of the Biggest Upsets in MMA History

The Xtreme Couture coach said that the event did not initially gain much attention. Until Strickland went out and admitted to punching a fan on national television, much to his coach’s dismay.

“It flew under the radar, there was nothing being said about it, and then Sean’s dumb ass goes on and says something in an interview and basically incriminates himself and I’m like, ‘Bro, what are we doing?’” he added.

Well, it would have been an absolute shame if Strickland was pulled from the card. MMA fans would have been robbed of watching what is probably the biggest upset in UFC history. What do you think about Eric Nicksick’s revelations? Let us know in the comments section below.

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