"We need some things to go wrong on his end" - Sean Strickland's coach gets real on chances of winning against Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland is all set to go down at UFC 293 on September 10. The Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia will serve as the host venue for the pay-per-view event.
Ahead of the matchup, Strickland's coach Eric Nicksick did an interview with MMA Junkie where he discussed various things like his thoughts on Israel Adesanya and Strickland's training camp for UFC 293.
At one point, Nicksick was asked to make a prediction for the UFC 293 main event. The MMA coach responded by saying that he obviously wanted Strickland to win but MMA is an unpredictable sport. He added that in addition to everything going according to the game plan, they might also need Adesanya to make a few mistakes.
“Here's my thing about the prediction thing, like of course, I think my guy is gonna win. Of course, you think that. But at the end of the day, this is fighting and we have a game plan that we have to go out and execute. We need everything to go right, and we need some things to go wrong on his [Israel Adesanya's] end."
Nicksick added:
"Let’s be clear, we have to understand that, in my opinion, this [Adesanya] is the best middleweight to ever do it. We have to go out there and execute this thing correctly, and if we can do that, I think we go home with the ‘W.'”
Check out Erick Nicksick's comments from the 5:50 mark below:
Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland: 'The Last Stylebender' speaks about 'Tarzan' possible game plan for UFC 293
UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya believes that Sean Strickland will possibly look to grapple in their upcoming showdown at UFC 293.
Adesanya recently did an interview with Aaron Bronsteter for TSN where he previewed his upcoming title defense. Giving credit to Strickland's coaches, Adesanya said after his loss against Alex Pereira at UFC 276, 'Tarzan' might change things up and go the grappling route for their encounter on September 10.
"He's got smart coaches, and they'll definitely beat it into him. I know they've been talking about it, he's like, 'What? Crotch-sniff? I'm gonna box!' Do you really think he's gonna box with me? The Pereira fight I called it. I said, 'Focus on your job 'cause he's gonna knock you out.' What did he do? He knocked him out... Yeah [Sean Strickland] is gonna crotch-sniff but I get down too, so it's whatever."
Watch the video below from 4:30: