Tag: UFC 312

Eric Nicksick reflects on spat with ex-UFC champion Sean Strickland: ‘The timing was wrong’

Eric Nicksick insists it’s water under the bridge with Sean Strickland.

[autotag]Eric Nicksick[/autotag] insists it’s water under the bridge with [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag].

Nicksick was pretty vocal with his discontent toward Strickland’s lackluster performance against Dricus Du Plessis in their title-fight rematch at 312, which prompted Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) to say he doubts Nicksick be in his corner again.

Nicksick doesn’t necessarily regret what he said. The Xtreme Couture head coach explained that he came from a good place when addressing someone who he doesn’t just see as a student, but as a friend. He thinks perhaps he shouldn’t have done it so soon after the loss.

“The timing was wrong on my part, and the wording wasn’t as crystal clear as what I should have gotten out,” Nicksick told MMA Junkie Radio. “Everyone in the gym that knows me, Sean included, knew where my heart was and knew where my head was and the point that I was trying to get across.

“Sean said that to me immediately via text. He was like, ‘Hey man, I know exactly what you mean.’ I saw him in person that same Thursday. We hugged, high-fived. ‘I’m going out snowboarding.’ We had a good conversation. So as far as I’m concerned, everything’s good on our end.”

Nicksick was criticized by a few pundits for his harshness towards Strickland, who gave a much more competitive effort in his first fight with Du Plessis at UFC 297.

“Whether I’m his coach, in his corner, none of that bothers me,” Nicksick said. “What I said was from the heart because I love him and I care about him. I want to see him at his best in the best capacity that we all know Sean. If I lie as a coach, I’m not doing my job. If I feel like we’re missing something, then I’m not doing my job. Should I have said it publicly? You know, maybe I shouldn’t have. I don’t know.”

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Dana White glad former UFC champ Dominick Cruz retired after another injury

UFC CEO Dana White reacts to Dominick Cruz’s retirement and is “glad that he finally hung it up.”

UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] fully supports [autotag]Dominick Cruz[/autotag]’s decision to retire from MMA.

Former UFC and WEC champion Cruz (24-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) was scheduled to compete in his final fight on Feb. 22 against Rob Font, but sustained another serious shoulder injury that forced him to pull the plug on his career sooner than planned.

It’s a sadly poetic end for Cruz, who, despite his many accomplishments, had his potential career successes reduced by an endless string of layoff and health issues. Still, he is likely to find himself in the UFC Hall of Fame one day, and White thinks it was the right call to stop pushing.

“I’m blown away that he hung in there as long as he did,” White told reporters at Saturday’s UFC 312 post-event news conference. “Who’s been more injured than this guy in his career? It’s fascinating. And the mental drive to just want to keep coming back and trying again and again and again after so many surgeries and so many injuries, you’ve got to give it to him. But I’m glad that he finally hung it up.”

Set to turn 40 on March 9, retirement was the inevitable conclusion for Cruz. He didn’t get the send-off fight he wanted, but already has a post-career infrastructure in place with his position as a UFC commentator, analyst and coach at the UFC Performance Institute in Mexico.

“When you have the type of experience and type of career he’s had, and you can sit in the booth and talk fights, it’s awesome,” White said. “He’ll have a great career after his career.”

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UFC champ Belal Muhammad unloads on ‘racist little clown’ Sean Strickland, predicts excuses incoming

At this stage of his career, it’s not likely Sean Strickland will head back to welterweight. But if he does …

At this stage of his career, it’s not likely Sean Strickland will head back to welterweight. But if he does …

UFC 170-pound champion Belal Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC), it’s safe to say, is no fan of Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC), who Saturday was dominated by middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) in the UFC 312 main event in Sydney.

Strickland had an eight-fight stint at welterweight from 2015-2018, but returned to middleweight in 2020 after a two-year motorcycle accident-related layoff. He upset Israel Adesanya to win the title in 2023, but lost it to Du Plessis a little more than a year ago.

The champ said he thinks Strickland never has been a worthy title challenger.

“What did we learn? I say we learned that ‘Bully’ is always right. I’ve been saying forever he’s trash. He talks a big game, but he never walks,” Muhammad said on a video posted to social media. “Even to the fans who sit there and hype him up like he’s the best boxer, the best boxing defense, this and that …

“He’s going to go to war and kill. ‘I would bleed for my fans. I would die for my fans.’ Blah blah blah. But you go out there and he just jabs and teeps and fights like a scared little girl. He doesn’t want to get hit. Even when you’re down four rounds, he doesn’t go all out. He doesn’t have it in him unless it’s five seconds left in the fight.”

 

Muhammad beat Leon Edwards this past July to win the 170-pound title, but has not yet made his first attempted title defense. He’s expected to have that be against Shavkat Rakhmonov later this year. They were supposed to fight in December, but Muhammad pulled out with a bone infection in his foot.

Muhammad had a nine-fight unbeaten streak at welterweight from 2019-2023 before he got a title shot against Edwards. Strickland got his middleweight title shot after a win at light heavyweight and one at middleweight. After he lost the belt to Du Plessis, he got his rematch after a lone split decision win over Paulo Costa.

But Muhammad surmises the days of Strickland in title fights are over – and also predicted Strickland will start firing off excuses for his loss based on a supposed staph infection ahead of the fight.

“He wants people to say he’s crazy, he’s nuts. He’s just a racist little clown that’s hiding in the body of a fighter. He’s a coward,” Muhammad said. “… He sucks. Finally we get to get rid of giving this guy undeserved title shots.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.

Dricus Du Plessis has ‘amazing’ fight suggestion for Sean Strickland after UFC 312

Dricus Du Plessis “can almost guarantee” what Sean Strickland’s next fight will be after his UFC 312 loss.

[autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] thinks he has a good idea what the UFC will do with [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] after he fell short in their rematch.

Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) failed to recapture the middleweight title from Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) on Saturday with a unanimous decision loss in the UFC 312 main event. The result pushes him far away from the title picture, and that means matchmaking gets trickier.

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Du Plessis thinks the next move for Strickland is a no-brainer, and it has to be a rematch with fellow former champ Israel Adesanya, who also had his place as a contender diminished with a second-round knockout loss to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 250.

“I know what’s going to happen next,” Du Plessis told reporters post-fight at UFC 312. “I can almost guarantee you what’s happening next: Is there any bets that he’s fighting Adesanya next? I just thought of that. … I think the Adesanya rematch will be amazing. That’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to be a Fight Night main event. I know it.”

Strickland defeated Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) by unanimous decision in his lone UFC title victory at UFC 293 in September 2023. He went on to drop the strap to Du Plessis in his first defense, and Du Plessis submitted Adesanya in August to kick off his title reign in a positive manner before beating Strickland again in the rematch.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.

Mick Maynard’s Shoes: What’s next for Sean Strickland after bloody UFC 312 loss?

What does the future hold for Sean Strickland after his failed bid to regain gold at UFC 312? We attempt to play matchmaker.

(ALSO SEE: Mick Maynard’s Shoes: What’s next for Dricus Du Plessis after UFC 312 title defense?)

[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] spent the past 13 months claiming he was “robbed” in his first fight with Dricus Du Plessis and their UFC 312 rematch would be different, but that proved false.

Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) suffered a unanimous decision loss to Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) on Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, and with a far from impressive performance, is now in a difficult spot in the middleweight division.

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Does Strickland have any path back to gold going forward? What makes most sense? Watch the video above for thoughts and analysis on Strickland’s future after his UFC 312 loss.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.

Zhang Weili: Timing will be key in the making of potential UFC title fight vs. Valentina Shevchenko

Zhang Weili reacts to a potential fight against fellow UFC champion Valentina Shevchenko.

If time permits, the MMA world might get tio witness a clash between all-time greats [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag] and [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag].

Weili (26-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC), champion of the UFC women’s strawweight division, is interested in going up a weight class and challenging Shevchenko for her flyweight title. However, with both being defending champions, schedules will have to align, making time the biggest hurdle in the making of this superfight.

“Everything is about timing,” Weili told reporters at the UFC 312 post-fight press conference. “If there’s a good time for both of us to make this fight happen, it happens.”

Weili defended her belt Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 312, which took place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Weili won a dominant unanimous decision to retain her title and hand Tatiana Suarez (11-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) the first loss of her career.

With that result, the debate of the best female pound-for-pound fighter on the planet today got a lot more complicated, with some giving it to Shevchenko and others to Weili.

“To be honest, I don’t really care who’s pound-for-pound (best) fighter. It doesn’t really matter,” Weili said when asked about the pound-for-pound debate with Shevchenko. “What I care is how can I make myself better.”

As far as her performance, Weili is happy with what she was able to display against Suarez. Not only with her own skill set, but her overall representation of women’s MMA.

“I really appreciate Tatiana in taking this fight and both of us showing hoew good female fighters can be,” Weili said. “Many people said I never fought such a good grappler before, and Tatiana was undefeated, but I don’t really care what others said. I just focused on myself.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.

Mick Maynard’s Shoes: What’s next for Dricus Du Plessis after UFC 312 title defense?

Dricus Du Plessis is staring down the barrel of a career-defining matchup with Khamzat Chimaev after his UFC 312 title defense.

(ALSO SEE: Mick Maynard’s Shoes: What’s next for Sean Strickland after bloody UFC 312 loss?)

[autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] made it 2-0 in head-to-head competition when he successfully defended his middleweight title in Saturday’s UFC 312 main event rematch, which went down at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

The second defense of Du Plessis’ (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) reign is in the books after a unanimous decision victory over Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC), and now he’s got what could be a legacy-defining matchup with Khamzat Chimaev on the horizon.

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Is Chimaev the only option for Du Plessis next, or is there another candidate for a crack at gold? Watch the video above for thoughts and analysis on Du Plessis’ future after UFC 312.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.

Photos: The goriest shots from Sean Strickland’s bloody UFC 312 loss

Sean Strickland’s loss to Dricus Du Plessis in their UFC 312 middleweight title rematch was one of the fights of his career.

[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag]’s unanimous decision loss to [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] in their UFC 312 middleweight title rematch at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney proved to be one of the bloodiest fights of his career. (Fight and venue photos by UFC, Getty Images, Reuters)

Din Thomas condemns Sean Strickland after UFC 312 loss: ‘He’s not who he says he is’

ESPN analyst Din Thomas spoke some harsh truths about Sean Strickland after his UFC 312 title-fight loss.

[autotag]Din Thomas[/autotag] has seen enough out of [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] after UFC 312 to vocalize frustrations about his fighting style.

Prior to his unanimous decision loss to Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) in Saturday’s middleweight title rematch, Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) assured critics of his jab and teep-heavy approach to fights that things would be different, and he would lay it all on the line.

That didn’t prove to be the case. Strickland had yet another performance that didn’t align with his pre-fight promises and left many observers underwhelmed. Even before his nose was shattered by Du Plessis in the third round, there was much to be desired from Strickland.

Thomas, who is an ESPN analyst and MMA coach, couldn’t bite his tongue in the aftermath of the event when breaking down Strickland.

“We just have to admit it now – we have to admit it: Sean Strickland is not who he says he is,” Thomas said of Strickland on the UFC 312 post-fight show. “He’s not who he says he is. We want him to be something. He wants to be something. But he’s not that guy.

“He’s not the guy who’s going to go to the death. (He says), ‘To the death.’ He didn’t go to the death. He didn’t even go deep. I’m not saying he’s not a great fighter. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve to be where he’s at. But he’s not who he says he is. We’ve got to admit that.”

The irritation with Strickland’s strategy against Du Plessis was largely universal. His head coach, Eric Nicksick of Xtreme Couture, repeatedly urged Strickland to alter his approach, but it never happened.

Strickland is now 0-2 in head-to-head competition with Du Plessis, with little public desire to see him fight for gold again unless the circumstances dramatically change.

“As a coach, I feel for Eric Nicksick because I know what it’s like and I don’t even want to go and be in that situation again,” Thomas said. “I know I’m hard on Sean Strickland. I know it but it’s because I’m cheated. I feel cheated by (Strickland).

“I hear about these gym stories, these wars that you get into, I hear about how great you are and then you go in these fights, these high-level fights and you give us that. You cheat us.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.

Dricus Du Plessis not rushing Alex Pereira fight, wants Khamzat Chimaev next

Dricus Du Plessis wants to beat Khamzat Chimaev before considering a UFC champion vs. champion fight with Alex Pereira.

[autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] wants a champion vs. champion super fight against [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag]. However, he first has some things to take care of.

Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) has been clear about wanting to move up to light heavyweight and challenge “Poatan” for his title, but he wants to hold off on that fight for now.

Although he successfully defended his middleweight belt against Sean Strickland on Saturday in the main event of UFC 312, which some think would clear the way for a light heavyweight move, Du Plessis wants to make sure there are no doubts among the fanbase on who is the best in the world before going up.

“I have the world of respect for Alex Pereira. I think he’s the world’s pound-for-pound best,” Du Plessis said at the UFC 312 post-fight press conference. “I have the most respect for what he’s done in such a short period of time in the UFC, to come from another sport and what he’s done there.

“So yes, I want to share the octagon with that man. I want to beat that guy. I’ve beaten Adesanya, who’s beaten him. I know I can beat him at 205 (pounds), 100 percent. But Khamzat is next. Khamzat is next.”

[autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] remains undefeated in his MMA career, and many see him as the uncrowned champion at 185 pounds. That why Du Plessis believes fighting Pereira would only make sense after defeating Chimaev.

“I want to make sure that this belt, that his middleweight title, that there is no question that I’m the GOAT of the middleweight division,” Du Plessis said. “I know that you have Anderson Silva, and in my mind, he’s the GOAT of this division, and you have Adesanya, who’s done incredible things.

“But it’s not about how many times you just defend, it’s about who you fight or how you defend it and in what period of time and who you’ve fought and making sure that there is no question that I am the best middleweight – and then going up. I’m not rushing that my next fight is Alex Pereira. No – I want Khamzat next.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.