Fight Coverage
Eric Nicksick Discusses Eventful Year Inside and Outside of the Octagon
Standout Coach Reflects On 2023 Campaign That Included Questions About HIs Future, A Shift In Mindset, And A Middleweight Title Win
The fact that Eric Nicksick has been taking home hardware as Coach of the Year from every outlet imaginable as we transition from 2023 to 2024 makes it even more incredible that at the start of the year, the head man at Xtreme Couture wasn’t sure how much longer he wanted to continue coaching.
“The first quarter of 2023 was very weird for me, emotionally,” the affable Las Vegas native told me as we sat in the lobby of the Hilton Downtown Austin in early December, sipping coffees and discussing a year where another UFC title was added to the collection at the famed outpost where he started out as its very first member.
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“I try not to wear it much, but to be honest, to be transparent, there are a lot of times in my head where I wanted to start thinking about what my exit plan might be — how do I want to get out of this sport? Do I want to get into commentary?
“I was looking at other avenues in the first quarter of 2023,” continued Nicksick, an ultra-proud father of three and loving husband. “It was funky, but that same mentality of ‘keep your head down and grind, good things will happen’ allowed me to stay focused on the guys that were present.”
The positive results started coming straight away, and the momentum of life as a mixed martial arts coach took hold, never affording him a chance to stop and continue thinking about his potential exit strategy.
Dan Ige, the fighter Nicksick is closest with on a personal level of everyone he works with, registered a second-round knockout win over Damon Jackson on the first card of the year, halting a three-fight slide that weighed heavily on both the fighter and the coach.
Sean Strickland, the nomad who Nicksick was once warned against bringing into the gym, stepped in on short notice and took out Nassourdine Imavov in the show’s main event, beginning what would be an incredible year inside the Octagon for the duo.
Sean Strickland's Athlete Profile
If he wasn’t cornering at a UFC event, the 44-year-old was somewhere else, guiding another athlete through another fight, logging more air miles, nights in hotels, and time away from his wife and kids.
While people watching at home see Nicksick and other recognizable coaches in the corner of their athletes on a weekly basis, sharing in the joy of victory or helping shoulder the pain of defeat and think about how cool it is to be that close to the action, what no one ever sees are the tearful goodbyes when leaving the house to catch another flight, the milestones missed along the way, and the simple weekend activities that are watched in video clips texted to whatever state or foreign land you’re coaching in that particular Saturday.
It’s that piece that still rests heavy with Nicksick each and every time he heads to work.
"You’re never in an off-season; you don’t have time for yourself unless it’s really mapped out,” he said, opening up about some of the challenges he and his contemporaries face. “I have a shoulder that is bone-on-bone. I have a neck where pretty much my disc is popping out, and you don’t have time to take off to get rehab.
“Now, there are ways around it, but I’ve always been such a hands-on coach that I want to be there for them, so then how do you schedule six months off where I can rehab my shoulder?
“The physical side has been one, and then I’m taking my daughter out to go test drive cars,” he added, pausing as he recalled the milestone event with his eldest, Makenna. “I remember bringing that girl in a carrier, putting her on the mats during nap time at Xtreme Couture so I could train. Now she’s two years away from graduating high school, and there are two more behind her.”
The smile on his face is wide and bright, but there is some regret there, too. The time away from his kids eats at him, especially when they hit him with a clean one-two like Knox, his son, did at one point during the year.
With Nicksick off coaching somewhere, Knox’s flag football team played without their offensive coordinator on the sidelines and suffered their first loss. The youngest member of the Nicksick clan let his father know about it, and while he can laugh about it now, those are moments you can never get back, and one can only hope that somewhere down the line, they’ll understand that time away today was always in service of a better life tomorrow.
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When it was time to pull the trigger on his daughter’s “Sweet 16” gift of a new car, Nicksick sent his eldest a message that read, in part, “I just hope that you know the time that I’m not here with you is benefitting us to some capacity.’”
One of those trips abroad this year came in September, when Nicksick accompanied Strickland to Sydney, Australia, where the irascible middleweight shocked just about everyone by thoroughly out-working Israel Adesanya to claim the UFC middleweight title. It was his third victory of the year, and one of the highlights of a year that even the man at the helm of it all couldn’t have envisioned when 2023 began.
“I would say it was probably one of the more successful years that I didn’t expect to be as successful as it was,” said Nicksick, reflecting on everything. “I didn’t expect Sean to be middleweight world champion. I believe in his abilities, but we needed a lot to work out to even get that opportunity, so to get that opportunity, execute it, and him come away with the belt is a whole other story.
“You can’t ever take that away, and that’s the thing I love the most,” he added, laughing and shaking his head at the thought of Strickland pulling off the massive upset. “You and I talked about this before: when it comes to the coaching element on a human level, getting him in a position where everybody can tolerate him, I swear to God, he’s adored in that gym. He’s adored; people love him in that room.
“Everyone is eating, and when you want to build a team, build a gym, build an environment, you want everyone to eat, you want everyone to have that success and that is going to be the reason why the rising tide raises all ships.”
READ: Main Event Spotlight | UFC 297: Strickland vs Du Plessis
Somewhere along the way, the questions about how much longer he wanted to continue leading the charge of the long-time destination gym in the Nevada desert faded and his focus shifted to being excited by what continues to happen around him each and every day.
Rather than ponder what was missing and why different things weren’t working out in his favor, the burly redhead with a hat to match every outfit he owns opted to concentrate on being grateful, and it flipped his perspective on everything.
“The thing that stands out to me the most about this year was circling back towards gratitude,” began Nicksick. “It’s an exercise to me now where perspective became everything for me this year. It’s not dwelling on the negative things that I felt like I was doing at the beginning of the year, and circling towards gratitude.”
The impact was immediate, and helped Nicksick remember that no matter what else is going on in his life, when he steps through the doors at Xtreme Couture each day, everyone there is counting on him in one way or another, and looks to him to set the tone.
It’s a heavy burden, but one he continues to carry with pride.
“The fighter I’m probably most emotionally connected with is Ige, and Dan and I both know — we’re almost like a married couple, and when your wife’s mad at you, you can feel that vibe,” he said, chuckling. “So there are times when I’ll walk in the gym and Dan will know right away, like, ‘We’re having a tough practice today; Eric is not happy about something.’
“He’s told me that, which has taught me that I have to leave it at the door or off-load that somewhere else, and I have to be present for the time because these guys are feeling that vibe and energy.
“It’s tough, but I have to show up in a way that I leave it all at the door.”
UFC 297: Strickland vs Du Plessis took place live from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on January 20, 2024. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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