Issue 203

April 2024

In the fiercely competitive realm of mixed martial arts, where the margins between victory and defeat are razor-thin, Eric Nicksick stands out as a visionary coach. His exceptional approach to mentoring some of the sport's most phenomenal athletes showcases a deep understanding of leveraging innate strengths while fostering unprecedented growth. Fighters Only Spencer Kyte gets in touch with Nicksick to understand how his philosophy transcends traditional coaching, positioning him as a pivotal figure in sculpting champions.

Eric Nicksick is one of the sharpest coaching minds in the sport and has a unique perspective when it comes to offering thoughts on what makes Alex Pereira such an impressive figure.

Not only has he led a fighter into the fray against “Poatan,” having worked extensively with and cornered Sean Strickland in their UFC 276 encounter during the Brazilian’s rookie campaign in the Octagon, but he’s also coached another preternaturally talent hard worker who enjoyed a rapid ascent in mixed martial arts, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, and the parallels between the two are many.

“When you have a guy like that, you play to his strengths, and then you just give them concepts,” Nicksick said of competitors like Ngannou and Pereira. These athletes break the mold in their ability to synthesize information and translate it into application at an accelerated rate.

“With Francis, everybody is gonna be ahead of his overhand, so how do you disguise it? Maybe you put him in southpaw, put his power hand forward and make him use it where he’s stepping over into different positions, doing some different things.

“As a coach, I think it’s your job to be a chef, prepare a bunch of different elements, and allow them to pick-and-choice what they like to put together.”

Like Pereira, Ngannou was not only an uncommonly gifted athlete but an absolute workhorse, setting the tone for everyone in the gym and showing that despite likely being able to achieve great things on talent alone, that wasn’t how he would do things.

CHALLENGES WITHIN CHALLENGES

Nicksick sees working with athletes like that as a personal motivator and reckons Teixeira feels the same.

“What it does is it motivates you as the coach, holds you to a higher standard,” he said. “I always call it the ‘get tos’ and the ‘got tos’ — ‘I get to coach this person’ and ’I’ve got to coach this person’ — and it motivates you to have those ‘get tos.’ I get to coach Paul Felder. I get to coach Dan Ige.

“It makes you want to show up, and you’re motivated to go to work,” added Nicksick, a three-time Coach of the Year nominee at the World MMA Awards. “I’m sure Glover enjoys going to work because of the standard that is being set.

“It’s motivating to have guys like that because that’s the goal when you’re at this point in your coaching career — you want all ‘get tos’ and zero ‘got tos.’”

From a preparation standpoint, the Xtreme Couture head man points to a similar element as both Teixeira and Cruz when assessing Pereira’s greatest strength and the piece of his game that he was most fixated on as he helped Strickland prepare to take on the future two-division champion.

“I would say data collection; the way that he’s able to collect data on the fly,” he said when asked to identify one thing that truly makes Pereira special. “Tape study would cover a lot of the recognition, and I’m sure he watches and sees, but he also feels very old school in regards to being able to going in and reading; seeing what he sees off your reactions to things.

“A lot of things that he throws, the purpose behind it is to see how you react, and if he can find a hole, find a repetition or a pattern. You can always look at the striking element, but the product placement in terms of where he’s putting his strikes and the reasons why behind it is what makes him unbelievably great, bro.

“When he starts to read what you’re doing — not even what you’re doing wrong, but just what you’re doing in repetition — he sets traps,” continued the Las Vegas native. “Then when he gets you to over-commit, do something in that data collection…”

NEXT LEVEL FIGHTERS

Nicksick shook his head resignedly, signaling that the slightest mistake or feeding into the information Pereira had already gathered was a recipe for disaster.

“I think that’s the thing I’m most enamored by. His physical tools are always going to be present, but really, it’s his vision and what he sees on the defensive side of things and what you’re doing wrong.”

So what do you do against someone with that kind of uptake and freakish talents in the striking realm?

“Wrestle,” he said, holding back a smile for as long as possible before finally cracking.

“My biggest thing with that was I didn’t want Sean to be repetitive in the same defense, meaning we’re gonna rear-hand parry a jab, we’re gonna slip a jab, and we’re gonna parry a jab, but don’t show the same defense over and over again because you’re gonna set a pattern. Show one or two other types of defenses. Split the jab, throw off the jab, just don’t get into a situation where you’re showing the same thing over and over and over again.

“You shouldn’t have the same counters in repetition; break the pattern,” he added. “That was the one thing defensively we stressed the most, and then, obviously, wrestle.”

As great as Pereira has been, there is one element of his game where Nicksick would like to see him improve.

“I think he could do things clearer,” he said. “You hear me say it all the time — I like clean kills; you get in, you get out, and you don’t even look like you were in a fight. I would like to see him execute his game plan a little bit cleaner not get into these knock-down, drag-out fights because you and I both know with these four-ounce gloves, it’s unforgiving.

“We’re at the highest level, and you’re playing with fire. Getting out unscathed would benefit his career, and the way it would look would be amazing.”

COACHING TO WIN

Navigating the complex and ever-changing landscape of mixed martial arts requires a coach with deep knowledge and the ability to adapt and innovate. Eric Nicksick has exemplified what it means to elevate the craft of coaching to an art form. His holistic approach, focusing on enhancing an athlete's strengths and intelligently addressing weaknesses, sets a new standard for what coaching can achieve. You can look forward to his hands shaping champions in the ring and inspiring figures in the broader narrative of the sport.