‘He Needed Something Different’- Francis Ngannou’s Head Coach Talks About Welcoming Struggling Former Champion Cody Garbrandt to the Gym

Posted on by Matt James

Francis Ngannou’s head coach Eric Nicksick spoke out about welcoming former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt into the fray. ‘No Love’ rose to the very top of the sport in 2016 when he captured the belt but has since seen a sharp decline in the trajectory of his career.

Garbrandt has since moved out of Team Alpha Male, where he saw his early success, and is now in Las Vegas training with Nicksick over at Xtreme Couture. Eric Nicksick is involved with some of the biggest stars in the sport and he will certainly have plenty of valuable insights for the former champion.

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Eric Nicksick expressed his excitement about working with Garbrandt and talked about how he needs a career reset in order to get back on track. Nicksick is excited to fuse Garbrandt’s learnings from Team Alpha Male and apply it to his training at Xtreme Couture.

“I’m very excited about working with a guy like Cody Garbrandt,” Nicksick told MMA Junkie Radio. “Here’s a guy that comes from a great gym already in Team Alpha Male. He had a great run there, but really it was just his personal life had moved him to Vegas.”

“He needed a reset. He needed something different. Now he trains at Xtreme Couture full time, so I’m able to piggyback on all the great things he’s done at Alpha Male, but try to give him some new tools, a new approach and new nuisances to his game that hopefully we can improve on.” [h/t mmajunkie.com]

Additionally, Nicksick also talked about how Cody ‘No Love’ has been a friend of his and the head coach of Xtreme Couture is keen to further expand upon their relationship going forward.

“He’s a guy that I’m super excited about. I’ve always loved Cody. He’s been a friend of mine for years, but now having him full time in the gym, I’m really excited about that.”

Garbrandt has faced some tough losses in recent years and he’ll be keen to finally get back on track after a tough UFC stint.

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