“The heavyweights better watch out,” Helen Yee joked in her YouTube video after Sean Strickland tipped the scales at over 230 pounds. ‘Tarzan’ may have the ideal physique for battling, but the ex-middleweight champion often shows a bit of carelessness when it comes to his diet. As the hunt for his next challenger continues, one of the UFC’s most talked-about figures is putting on weight.

Strickland remains unbooked for a fight following his second title loss to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312 in Australia. Rainier de Ridder stepped into the spotlight, challenging for an all-out brawl at UFC Des Moines following his dominant victory over Bo Nickal. With the Dutchman now gearing up to take on Robert Whittaker at UFC Abu Dhabi Fight Night, that opportunity has passed. What’s next? Is the former 185-pound champion out of choices? That’s not the case if you consult his coach, Eric Nicksick.

Sean Strickland’s coach, Erick Nicksick, eyes either Caio Borralho or Israel Adesanya for his next UFC fight

Sean Strickland and Eric Nicksick had a bit of drama following UFC 312, but it seems the two have patched things up. Now, the veteran coach is eyeing Caio Borralho or even Israel Adesanya for Strickland’s comeback fight. But neither matchup comes easily. ‘Tarzan’ shares a rocky history with ‘The Last Stylebender’ and a close friendship with the Brazilian, which could complicate things.

Nicksick told MMA fighting, “That’s a great question. I mean, honestly, the Caio (borralho) fight makes a lot of sense. But I know they are good friends. Caio has trained with us a bunch. Caio has been coming out since the contender days. So, I know that they have a relationship, so I don’t know how he feels about that. But the Izzy fight is always gonna make sense, because I know Izzy wants that fight back. So, that rematch would make sense.” 

Caio Borralho and Sean Strickland share a friendly bond. The Brazilian spent a good chunk of time training at Xtreme Couture before becoming a key part of the Fighting Nerds team. Interestingly, Strickland already received an offer to fight Borralho, but as he revealed on an Adin Ross stream, he turned it down, citing their relationship as the reason.

So, it seems both Strickland and Adesanya’s camps would be open to running it back—to see who’s really leveled up since that shocking upset at UFC 293. But there’s also another name in the mix—someone who’s trained with Strickland before and recently pointed out that ‘Tarzan’ has added some serious power to his punches.

Mike Perry opens up about his training sessions with Strickland

Sean Strickland might miss a UFC fight here and there, but he never skips out on a good sparring session. Especially not when the partner is none other than ‘The King of Violence’ himself, Mike Perry. The two went a few rounds just days ago, when Perry was in town promoting the DBX 2 event set for June 14th. And after trading shots with the former middleweight champ, Perry had a few words to share about the experience.

Perry told MMA fighting, “I showed up, I went, I did some warmups. I did a round with someone else, and then I did a round with Sean, who’s very big by the way. He’s got, at least, 35 pounds on me, and it was nice to see his style and how he is and feel some of those punches. Obviously, that’s a Platinum pressure style that I had to use to get myself close to him to even try to make contact.” 

Mike Perry also confirmed that Strickland’s packed on some extra weight. And since the two went a solid number of rounds, it’s fair to speculate that the former champ might be bulking up on purpose—possibly to add more power to his punches for the next time he steps into the cage.

That said, what’s next for ‘Tarzan’? Could we see him run it back with Israel Adesanya in a rematch? Or will he wait for the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Reinier de Ridder—assuming he doesn’t end up fighting Caio Borralho? Let us know your take in the comments below.