Daniel Cormier has given his opinion on the controversial comments Sean Strickland’s coach made about his student in the aftermath of UFC 312.
While trainers usually withhold their criticisms of their fighters from the public, this wasn’t the case after last weekend’s middleweight title bout, in which one of the sport’s most polarizing characters fell short against Dricus Du Plessis.
Eric Nicksick went as far as describing Strickland’s performance as ‘Uninspiring‘, which shocked the MMA community.
But what did ‘DC’ have to say about the situation?
Daniel Cormier has given his verdict on Eric Nicksick’s comments about Sean Strickland
At UFC 312, inside the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, Sean Strickland attempted to reclaim his belt against Dricus Du Plessis.
However, the warrior, who bravely continued after breaking his nose, lacked urgency, and was unable to win back the 185-pound strap.
Consequently, Eric Nicksick vocalized his opinion, and received backlash from combat sports fans.
However, Daniel Cormier agreed with everything he said, aside from solely wanting to coach one type of fighter.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, the former two-weight King, explained: “The only area that I think coach Nicksick was wrong was that ‘I want to coach world champs’.
“Not everyone is going to be a world champ. You don’t get to coach all world champs. You coach world champions, you coach guys that might get to the Contender Series and lose, you coach guys that might get to an LFA title, and that might be it.
“You might get a guy that comes to the UFC, has a cup of tea, 0-2, and he’s out. So, you don’t just get to coach world champions. I get the thought of what he’s saying, but not everybody gets there. Make that your goal, but I don’t know if publicly you say that. But any great coach will have words for their athlete.”
Furthermore, Cormier supported the trainer’s public critique of Strickland.
He asserted: “I don’t blame coach. I think any great coach needs to judge their athletes fairly, but very harsh whenever they don’t compete to the ability that you expect them to because if you don’t, who’s going to? Especially in a world where most people are saying yes.”
Sheesh: Sean Strickland could take another L with UFC Vegas 102 star in touching distance of coveted record
Alex Pereira’s live reaction to Sean Strickland’s poor performance at UFC 312 revealed by coach
It wasn’t just Strickland’s head trainer who was bemused by his recent title challenge, but Alex Pereira as well.
Since going head-to-head in 2022, ‘Poatan’ and the American have become close friends, with the light heavyweight champion going above and beyond to help his fellow mixed martial artist hone his craft.
Therefore, it came as no major surprise when the Brazilian popped up in his buddy’s corner.
However, according to Nicksick, Pereira wasn’t best pleased by what Strickland produced inside the cage.