Eric Nicksick Details Sean Strickland’s Path to Victory Against Dricus Du Plessis

Sean Strickland’s head coach believes dictating the pace will be key to a successful title defense against Dricus Du Plessis.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champ will put his strap on the line in the main event at UFC 297 next month in Toronto.

Nicksick, Strickland’s head coach at Xtreme Couture, recently laid out the champ’s roadmap to victory against the South African standout. Nicksick expects “Stillknocks” (20-2) to come out guns blazing in the initial rounds, where he believes it’ll be crucial for Strickland (28-5) to establish control. While Nicksick expects an exciting scrap, he claims Strickland will take over as the fight progresses. Nicksick recently told Inside Fighting:

“I think it’s going to be a matter of setting a precedent on the pace. I feel like Dricus is going to come out hard, heavy and fast right away, and we’re going to have to manage that pace in the first couple of rounds. Once Sean gets into the fight, I think that’s when Sean’s really going to be able to take over. I expect it to be a barnburner. Both of these guys are right where they belong.”

“I was always told by Randy [Couture] and something I always look at is the hardest fight of your career is your first title defense. It’s going to be up to us to make sure we’re on our Ps and Qs and go out there and defend this belt.”



While Du Plessis earned a title shot against Israel Adesanya by knocking out Robert Whittaker at UFC 290, he had to pull out at the last minute due to a foot injury. Strickland stepped up on short notice against Adesanya at UFC 293 in September and went on to dominate “The Last Stylebender” in a major upset.

UFC 297 takes place on Jan. 20 at ScotiaBank Arena in Toronto and will mark the UFC’s first trip to Canada in over four years. The card is currently set to be headlined by Strickland and Du Plessis, with Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva scheduled to fight for the vacant women’s bantamweight title in the co-main event.