Sean Strickland’s coach says they are ready for Dricus Du Plessis, Khamzat Chimaev
Officially booking his title fight return in February, former champion, Sean Strickland will be ready to return against former-foe and current champion, Dricus du Plessis as slated at UFC 312 — and even the unbeaten, Khamzat Chimaev if he serves as an official backup fighter.
Strickland, who retains the number one rank at the middleweight limit, has been sidelined since he co-headlined UFC 302 at the beginning of June, returning to the winner’s enclosure in a split decision win over former title chaser, Paulo Costa.
And over the course of the weekend, outspoken fan-favorite, Sean Strickland was officially confirmed as the headliner of UFC 312 in his return to Australia — taking on Pretoria native, du Plessis in a title rematch, having previously matched up earlier this annum.
Sean Strickland preparing for Dricus du Plessis, Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 312
Beating out the undefeated, Chimaev to a title fight with du Plessis, according to Sean Strickland’s head coach, Eric Nicksick, the Xtreme Couture tactician confirmed his student is more than ready to take on either at UFC 312 in two months time.
They [the UFC] usually let us know, you know, a month or two ahead of time, just for that same reason,” Eric Nicksick told Submission Radio during a recent interview. You know, we knew Jared Cannonier was the backup for our fight with Izzy (Israel Adesanya), so in our heads, we had already fought Jared, so we had an idea of what we needed to do if that were to be the case.
So, yeah, I think definitely, if they announce that Khamzat (Chimaev) is the backup, you certainly should have like two play calls in the huddle, you know, like if something changes, we need to be prepared for it,” Nicksick explained.
Taking on du Plessis at UFC 297 at the beginning of the year in a trip to Canada, Strickland suffered a controversial split decision loss to the South African in his first attempted defense of the middleweight crown having previously beaten common-foe, Adesanya in a major upset victory in September of last year.
