Coach: Sean Strickland Used Dricus Du Plessis Brawl for Motivation

Eric Nicksick is making sure that Sean Strickland’s recent brawl with upcoming opponent Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t take an emotional toll on the UFC middleweight champion.

Strickland is slated to defend his middleweight strap against Du Plessis in the main event at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto. The bad blood between the two started during a recent seasonal press conference where “Stillknocks” brought up Strickland’s abusive childhood.

The feud boiled over while the two were in attendance at UFC 296 the next day. Strickland was seen leaping over chairs to attack Du Plessis after an exchange of words before being escorted out of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

As Strickland’s head coach at Xtreme Couture, Nicksick admits that the champ was triggered by the altercation with Du Plessis. However, Nicksick claims to have made sure that Strickland has used it for motivation heading into their upcoming fight.

“There’s two sides to that coin: Sean has no problem saying what he says about everybody else, so people are going to probably poke and say things about him, as welI,” Nicksick told