At UFC 312, Sean Strickland dropped the ball in his title rematch against Dricus Du Plessis. While MMA veterans like Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier defended the former champ, arguing that the criticism toward him was too harsh, others—including Strickland’s coach, Eric Nicksick—expressed disappointment in his performance.

It’s important to note that the verbose American fractured his nose mid-fight and had the sheer grit to reset it right there inside the Octagon. Despite that, the Xtreme Couture head honcho didn’t hold back on his critique of Strickland’s performance, calling it “lackluster” and “uninspiring.” However, his public criticism didn’t sit well with some fans, who felt he was too harsh on his fighter. The fallout was significant—Strickland ultimately decided to end their coach-fighter relationship, stating that while Nicksick was a friend, their professional partnership was over.

So, who was in the wrong? Enter Brendan Schaub and Bryan Callen, who recently shared their take on the situation during an episode of The Fighter and The Kid. According to the former heavyweight, Nicksick’s comments weren’t meant to be harsh but rather a motivational tactic. He explained: “My take on it was he’s trying to use it… he did a prior interview… and this is the way I took it: that’s a coach trying to motivate a fighter.”

Schaub further elaborated that Nicksick wasn’t attacking Strickland but rather pushing him by implying that he only trains champion-caliber fighters—a way of reinforcing that Strickland had the potential to be at that level again. “That’s a coach going, ‘Man, I only train world champions,’ meaning you’re of that caliber. That night, you were not fighting at that caliber. Let’s try and kick him in the a– and get his a– in gear.”

However, Schaub also pointed out that Strickland’s difficult past has shaped him into someone who doesn’t respond well to public criticism. He emphasized that Nicksick should have known his fighter better and approached the situation differently. “Now you’re dealing with Sean Strickland… [Nicksick] should know his fighter. And he should know Sean’s not going to take it that way, especially if you do it publicly. Sean’s sensitive when it comes to that stuff, and Sean was like, ‘Cool, he’s not in my corner anymore.'”

However, there’s yet another twist to this unfolding drama, and it comes from Justin Jaynes, a fellow coach at Xtreme Couture. Speaking to the TenSevenMMA YouTube channel, Jaynes claimed that Strickland’s split with Nicksick wasn’t just about public criticism—it was also tied to a payment dispute.

According to Jaynes, he had a private conversation with Nicksick, where the coach revealed that financial disagreements played a role in the fallout. “Going into that fight, they’d talked about payment and how much Eric thought he deserved to be paid and how much Sean wanted to pay – and I guess there was a payment dispute somewhere along the lines.”

This revelation adds a whole new layer to the situation. Was Nicksick’s criticism of Strickland purely a coaching strategy, or was it also influenced by behind-the-scenes tensions over money?

Eric Nicksick comes clean on his real intentions

During an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Eric Nicksick didn’t hold back when discussing Sean Strickland’s performance at UFC 312. “I think he needs to evaluate what he wants to do in this sport. If it’s just to make money, then that’s great. Let us know. I want to coach world champions, so my motivations are different. So I think that just to kind of show up and do that, and not back it up, to me was just kind of uninspiring.”

These comments sparked a firestorm, with Strickland taking offense at being called out publicly by his coach. Despite his notorious bluntness, ‘Tarzan’ felt that Nicksick crossed a line. In response, Strickland posted a four-minute video where he said he would “continue to be friends” with Nicksick but added that the coach would “probably not” be in his corner moving forward.

Even UFC veteran Matt Brown sided with Strickland, criticizing Nicksick’s approach. In light of the backlash, the Xtreme Couture head coach owned up to his mistake, addressing the issue via Brown’s Instagram post. He commented, “@iamtheimmortal I agree, Matt. Looking back at it, I made a mistake. My true intentions were to try and motivate him [Sean Strickland] publicly, and that was a miscalculation on my part.”

So, what’s your take on this? Was Nicksick wrong for publicly calling out Strickland, or was he just trying to push his fighter to be better? Let us know in the comments!