Khamzat Chimaev’s coach Alan Nascimento has pushed back on Sean Strickland’s gun-related trash talk ahead of their middleweight title clash at UFC 328.
Chimaev is scheduled to defend his middleweight title against Strickland in the UFC 328 main event on May 9 in Newark. Strickland has talked about using a gun if surrounded by Chimaev and his group, comments that have drawn a response from the champion’s corner.
Nascimento acknowledged that verbal jabs are part of the build-up but drew a clear line with Strickland’s remarks. “That’s part of the game,” he said, before adding: “But this whole thing of ‘I’m going to shoot him’ and all that, I think that’s just nonsense. Nobody is going to take things to that level. It doesn’t make sense. This whole trash talk thing is something that’s accepted now, it’s normal, so everyone is going to use whatever they can to try to destabilize the other person. Even if they talk about things that, from my point of view, in my humble opinion, I wouldn’t do. I don’t think it’s a man’s move when you bring up family, kids, you know? But if that’s what’s available, then everyone’s going to use it.”
Focused on keeping his fighter steady, Nascimento said, “My role is simply to talk to my athlete and make sure he doesn’t let this affect him mentally or psychologically because that area needs to be very well protected,” and added that Chimaev “is much more mature now” and that “the work is being done in a very smooth way, to be honest.”
