Eric Nicksick says Ali Abdelaziz feud over after punch thrown

Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick says his brief feud with manager Ali Abdelaziz ended with an apology after the two got into a physical altercation following Manel Kape's win over Kyoji Horiguchi last month. Abdelaziz reportedly threw a punch at Nicksick before security escorted him from the venue, according to Sherdog.

Nicksick downplayed the incident in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, comparing it to a domestic argument that happened to spill into public view. "I told him Argentina was gonna beat Egypt. We're brothers, man. You get arguing with your wife, it happens in the house. This happened more in front of people, so it became more out in public," he said. The coach added that he and Abdelaziz have been friends for 15 years and routinely argue before moving past it the next day.

Apology squashed beef between Nicksick and Abdelaziz

Nicksick credited the manager for owning the mistake. "To his credit, he said, 'Look, dude, I'm sorry, I made a mistake.' I'm a man; he's a man; I think forgiveness needs to be something that we practice a lot more," Nicksick told Helwani. He said the two share too many fighters in common to let tensions linger, and blamed miscommunication involving others in the room for escalating the situation.

As for the punch, Nicksick waved it off. "Nothing that affected me," he said. The tension was partly fueled by recent online exchanges between Kape and UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, both of whom train at Xtreme Couture. Strickland has been targeting Abdelaziz online, and Kape came to his manager's defense despite the size gap between him and the champion.

Nicksick coaches Kape, who is managed by Abdelaziz. The two camps have since moved on.

Reported via:

• Sherdog — Eric Nicksick says Ali Abdelaziz feud is over after physical altercation