Sean Strickland's coach recalls getting payback against Dricus du Plessis on paintball field after UFC 297 title loss: "Dricus is like a Shrek build"

Sean Strickland's coach addressed his pupil's defeat against Dricus du Plessis and lightheartedly suggested that he exacted revenge against du Plessis for the same. Strickland's head coach, Eric Nicksick, asserted that he did so during a paintball battle against 'Stillknocks'.

Heading into UFC 297 in Jan. 2024, then-UFC middleweight champion Strickland put his title on the line against then-challenger du Plessis. The South African champion defeated America's Strickland via split decision to become the new UFC middleweight champion.

Certain sections of the MMA community subsequently lobbied for the UFC to book an immediate rematch. UFC CEO Dana White suggested that they could clash in a rematch, albeit that's likely to materialize down the line rather than immediately.

In his latest interview with The Schmo, Strickland's coach, Eric Nicksick, indicated that he recently participated in a paintball session with du Plessis. He jestingly drew parallels between 'Stillknocks' and 'Shrek,' the titular brawny fictional animated ogre character from the 'Shrek' animated film series.

On that note, the Xtreme Couture coach highlighted that du Plessis' muscular build made him stand out as an easy target to shoot. The Schmo asked him whether he got revenge for Strickland against du Plessis on the paintball field. Joking that he did indeed get payback for 'Stillknocks' beating his student Strickland in their title fight, Nicksick stated:

"Headshot, got him. See, here's the thing with Dricus. Dricus is like a 'Shrek' build. He has these big hands, and he's hiding behind the barrier with his hands sticking out. I'm like, 'Bro, that's easy. That's Dricus.' Doom! Shot him in the hand. Next time, he was like, running. They just sent him running across the field. Like, come on, bro. We just [shot him]. Headshot. Got Dricus. So, that was payback."

Check out Nicksick's comments below:

Catch Nicksick's comments below (4:00):

---

Eric Nicksick on potential Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland rematch, significance of UFC 302 fight

Sean Strickland is scheduled to face Paulo Costa at UFC 302 on June 1, 2024. Meanwhile, UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis' next opponent hasn't been officially announced yet.

For his part, du Plessis has expressed interest in fighting archrival Israel Adesanya and the Robert Whittaker-Khamzat Chimaev matchup's winner, before pursuing two-division champion status.

Speaking to The Schmo, Eric Nicksick referenced the closely-contested first encounter between 'Tarzan' and du Plessis, highlighting that Strickland deserves a rematch against him. In the same interview (1:16), he asserted that beating Costa could set up the du Plessis title rematch for Strickland:

"Absolutely. That's the way I feel. I think that you can make an argument for Sean to have that immediate rematch. The way the kind of landscape is with the middleweight division, I think Sean gets a good win, especially emphatically, I think it puts him right back in the title picture."