Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick joins Phil Murphy on UFC Fight Camp to preview Casey O’Neill’s return at UFC 286 …
and Casey’s head coach Eric nixik joins us now a man with a number of international coaching accolades and you head up a gym that’s seen some of the baddest fighters on the planet drip blood and sweat on the canvas Brandon Moreno obviously Randy Couture Phil Murphy Francis inganu but the topic at hand is Casey O’Neill and Eric she’s coming off of an ACL injury we haven’t seen her in a year but still a very young fighter 25 years old Where Have You Seen Her evolve the most since the last time we saw her a a pretty comfortable albeit Split Decision win over Roxanna Ferry so anytime you get an injury of that magnitude for for us Phil my biggest thing is to try to keep the fighter engaged in the room um and explaining to her and in Francis for that matter that there’s a lot of mental reps and there’s a lot of things that you can do in in partake in even though you can’t physically be on the mats and and be doing the the work but with that being said Casey really took took charge in the fact of like coming out and helping people Corner helping her teammates um coming to all the sparring practices so the moment she got cleared from the injury I think it really showed that how important it is to stay active and stay engaged in the room because she didn’t seem like she missed a beat at all and if anything a lot of her mental side mental preparation she was ahead of the curve so I think it really helped her a lot being there and being engaged coming off of an ACL tear once she’s cleared what do you do as a coach to say how soon we can go full throttle as she prepares for an opponent which was another step up the ladder oh it was it was working itself between myself and uh Heather at the pi just to keep Casey off the mats you know because Casey will come in one day and basically say hey no video no pictures no anything because I don’t want to get in trouble for being here for being up on the maps so really it was just it you know it was her eagerness to get back to work but in a lot of that we had to kind of rain her back so she wouldn’t injure herself um any further so I mean bro we’re super blessed to have a girl like Casey O’Neill in the room she really raises the level of all the fighters in the room but really the enthusiasm of every day day in and day out you just get 110 from that woman and you know she’s a blessing to have in the room well her opponent in London Jennifer Maya very experienced she’s fought for a title of what does Casey need to be most mindful to continue her terrific trajectory that she’s had thus far in her career I I think it’s almost a like a double-edged sword Phil it’s like you don’t want to pay too much respect and fight the legend that’s in front of you this Jennifer Maya who I think is one of the perennial girls in the division but it’s also important not to take her very lightly either because we’ve seen what Jennifer Maya can do as she’s played spoiler to Joanne Calderwood um our barring her when Joanne Calderwood had a had a title fight literally on the on the brink but um she ended up taking that fight so Jennifer Maya is a tricky opponent I think it’s uh important to to give her the respect that she deserves and go out there and fight her just as if it would be uh Valentina or anybody that’s holding the belt when you’re sitting there in in your hands on the the edge of the the octagon and watching Casey you know do her thing against Jennifer Maya two minutes into the fight what is going to be something that you’re going to look for to say okay Casey O’Neal is back and she’s right on track well that’s actually going to be Eddie Barraco Eddie Barraco’s going to be out there with her but for for all of us all camp and all the sparring sessions that we had for Casey really it was just to try to like stay through the basics and do the the small things right first and don’t you don’t have to try to wow the crowd right away I think the O2 Arena has a certain effect on Fighters Phil I’ve seen it before firsthand you almost get drunk off the crowd and her fighting in in Europe and it was very important to her for that come by comeback fight to be in London her dad’s going to be there with her as well so don’t get drunk and hype off the crowd kind of go in and do your thing set your tone right away work behind your jab and everything else I think comes into place once you start getting your reads and collect your data yeah save the drunkenness for those watching in their seats and from the comfort of their own home Eric nixik thanks so much man always a pleasure to chat to you hey bro you look good Phil when you coming out for sicko Saturday man ah man just need the invite and the reason to get out there but uh I’m just I went the wrong way on the on the you know weight class scale I’m working my way up toward light heavyweight we got to get back down to our middleweight coach and then I’ll see you on the mat all right brother sounds good man we miss having you out thank you for 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