Sean Strickland walked through hell to become a two-time UFC middleweight champion on Saturday at UFC 328 in Newark. Not only did he have to face the undefeated terror that was Khamzat Chimaev, but Strickland also had to contend with the hindrance of a busted shoulder.

After his stunning split decision upset, Strickland revealed to reporters that he injured his shoulder on Tuesday of fight week. Outside of a lack of right-hand punches down the stretch, Strickland didn’t make his handicap too noticeable until it was mentioned. According to his coach at Xtreme Couture, Eric Nicksick, Strickland was certainly dealing with plenty of pain throughout the week, he said Monday on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”

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“It was hurt pretty bad,” Nicksick told Uncrowned. “He landed into the wall sparring with [former PFL middleweight champion] Johnny Eblen on Tuesday — kind of basically a brick wall. With Sean, you have to pull that out of him — like, how hurt is he? But all the while, I knew he was going to be able to go out and perform. It definitely affected his right cross. A lot of people heard us asking for him to finish up with the right hand. I think it took a little bit out of him, but it is what it is, and something we had to deal with.

“He said he was fine and going to work through it. That’s exactly what he did.”

Strickland’s strategy, in theory, appeared as simple as any against Chimaev: Don’t get taken down and out-strike him on the feet. While Strickland couldn’t avoid being taken down in the opening round, he overcame any grappling attempts from Chimaev for the remaining 20 minutes and had a competitive striking affair with the champion.

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For Nicksick, he’s in a unique boat coaching a fighter like Strickland. The new champ’s approaches typically look pretty similar from fight to fight — and perhaps they are, as Nicksick says it’s more about building the strategy around Strickland than their opponent.

“We lean heavily on Sean. Sean is the game plan,” Nicksick said. “Sean is the style that, I think a lot of times you can overthink a game plan. But you allow your fighter to be who he is and what he is, but also try to dictate what Khamzat’s game plan is going to be versus that particular style.

“The biggest thing for us was just owning the geography, making sure we weren’t putting our back against the cage, inciting the takedown, try to keep Sean more in the middle. We didn’t attack the body as much as I would have liked to have — that was going to help neutralize the midline-level change, but also the cardio of Khamzat.

“Once Sean kind of got going downhill, especially with his jab, it’s very tough when that pace and rhythm [get going]. Also, his defense was on point — his shoulder rolls and everything else, to be able to defensive and counter-wrestle in Round 2.”

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As big of a surprise as Strickland’s win is in a vacuum, the bigger surprise is his resurgence after a colossal letdown effort in his previous title bout.

A championship rematch with Dricus du Plessis early last year veered far from expectations; the first fight in 2024 was competitive, but du Plessis pitched a shutout in the rematch, silencing Strickland’s claims of a robbery in part one of their rivalry.

Now Strickland has fully righted the ship, scoring excellent wins over a surging top contender like Anthony Hernandez and the seemingly unbeatable Chimaev. Nicksick chalks up the big change to his fighter being healthier than he was ahead of the du Plessis rematch.

“He was injured. He was in that motorcycle accident. He hurt his shoulder really bad. He was having stem cells and doing all this other stuff,” Nicksick said.

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“I definitely think that was part of the reason why he had a hard time in that second Dricus fight. He was able to get over those injuries and take some time off. We almost had a year off, I think, during that time, and we know what he’s capable of, man. This guy, we know he’s championship material, and the level that he fights at, he can beat anyone on his night. And just consistency in the room is the main thing. He spars, he grapples, he does everything right, takes care of his body; this is the result.”