Coach Eric Nicksick details how Sean Strickland possibly got a "false sense of reality" about his stand-up ahead of Alex Pereira fight

Coach Eric Nicksick revealed that Sean Strickland deviated from their game plan against Alex Pereira at UFC 276.

Strickland suffered a devastating knockout in his most recent outing, which was an unsurprising outcome after 'Tarzan' opted to strike with the former professional kickboxer.

However, his head trainer Eric Nicksick, who is regarded as one of the best tacticians in MMA, revealed that playing with fire wasn't the plan all along. Appearing in an interview with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, the Xtreme Couture head coach said:

"The whole gameplan was to wrestle. And he'll tell you that. We spent a lot of time working takedowns, working cagework, [and] working ground control. So as the fight grew near – and he'll tell you this too – we were literally cutting weight and I was like, 'Hey, get in there and get on this guy's legs right away.' He said, 'I think I'll feel it out for the first minute.' I was like, 'Bro, the longer you're feeling this s*** out, the longer you're in this guy's realm.'"

Nicksick added that a good sparring session with kickboxer Artem Levin made Strickland unrealistically confident in his striking. The MMA coach reminded his protege that a sparring session is different from an actual fight, but Strickland apparently ignored his warnings to give the fans an exciting show:

"I think part of the thing too is Johnny Eblen came out and worked with us and then Sean went in to work with Johnny... He was able to spar Artem Levin out there and when he came back, I think that gave him a little bit of false sense of reality."

Check out Eric Nicksick's interview below:

Eric Nicksick hails Sean Strickland as "best teammate" at Xtreme Couture

Sean Strickland may have a bad reputation as a teammate, but his coach Eric Nicksick says otherwise.

Strickland is one of the most outspoken fighters, which has resulted in many controversial statements. However, Nicksick revealed that 'Tarzan' is the ultimate team player behind the scenes. During an interview with Morning Kombat, he said:

"He’s [Sean Strickland] one of the best teammates you’re going to have in the room. He’s a guy that, he pushes each individual in here and it doesn’t matter the weight class. He’ll come in for early sparring when the 145’ers will come in a little bit earlier to get work – Sean’s here early and helping coach these guys, help cornering these guys."

Watch the full interview below: