Eric Nicksick may have a vested curiosity in Saturday’s middleweight title battle between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.
The rivals headline UFC 305 in Perth, Western Australia. Nicksick, head coach of former middleweight champ Sean Strickland, expects his fighter to be subsequent for the winner, and since he has game-planned for each guys up to now 12 months, Nicksick sees it as a razor-close and compelling matchup.
“I sort of take into account it a 50-50 coin flip, man. I actually do,” Nicksick advised MMA Combating. “I’m very curious on seeing what sort of Izzy comes again. I’m a variety of methods, selfishly, I’m pulling for him, as a result of the division is a lot better with a proficient, championship degree Israel Adesanya within the division.
“And I actually took a liking to Dricus during the last 12 months or so. I wouldn’t say we’re shut, however we’re pleasant and we’re very respectful towards each other. And I’m pulling for him in a variety of methods, as a result of I believe he has been ignored severely through the years.”
Strickland captured the title with a lopsided determination win over Adesanya at UFC 293 this previous September, however the reign was short-lived as du Plessis received a cut up determination over Strickland of their title battle at UFC 297 in January.
Nicksick was acquainted with du Plessis as a result of his fighter Brad Tavares dropped a choice to the South African champ at UFC 276 in July 2022. Even with that data, in addition to du Plessis being as aggressive but tactical as he’s, Nicksick admits du Plessis was very robust to arrange for.
“He’s an issue, man, and he’s solely getting higher, and I believe the best way that he began to battle and perceive sort of who and what he’s as a fighter, he’s awkward in a means like Sean is however with extra energy,” Nicksick stated. “He hits very exhausting. It was very tough for us to seek out explicit sparring companions for Dricus.
“You’re not going to seek out many individuals that may battle like him. Our greatest data that we introduced over was when Brad fought him and we had that skill to take that sport plan and perceive find out how to implement it, however Dricus solely bought higher because the Brad battle. So it’s a really attention-grabbing matchup to me.
In fact, taking a look at issues from an Xs and Os standpoint, Nicksick sees UFC 305 as an attention-grabbing puzzle to unravel on each ends, and expects that to play out on Saturday.
“I’m curious on how they sport plan it,” Nicksick stated. “I believe if I’m Dricus’ camp, I’ll take a tough take a look at what we did with Sean, and understanding the cage management and what we did there, and attempt to bottle Izzy up.
“I believe Izzy must reverse engineer that sport plan and go, ‘Hey, that is what these guys did to me and the blueprint’s out, and right here’s how now we have to attempt to preserve my again off the cage and implement our sport plan out within the open.’”
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