Sean Strickland’s head coach vehemently denies that his fighter and Khamzat Chimaev manufactured their beef prior to UFC 328.

Strickland and Chimaev shared some heated words in the buildup to this past Saturday’s middleweight title clash in Newark. It got to the point where the UFC brass put extra security between both men, and didn’t allow the two to face off during the ceremonial weigh-ins.

Ultimately, Strickland and Chimaev had no problem touching gloves and exchanging pleasantries in-between rounds. Strickland scored the split decision win, and Chimaev even wrapped the middleweight title around his foe’s waist. Strickland admitted to reporters in the aftermath that he was trying to sell the fight.

While some fans felt Strickland and Chimaev swerved everyone by faking their tension, Xtreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick told MMAFighting.com that this wasn’t the case.

“It was a beef,” Nicksick said. “It was 100 percent a beef, and it’s funny. You and I talked about this. You asked me, ‘What do you hope happens after this?’ And I was like, ‘I hope they shake hands and they move on and maybe one day Khamzat’s back in the gym training with us again.’ That’s what I truly hoped for, but was I thinking it was realistic? Probably not.

“These guys didn’t like each other. And I hate to use this analogy, but I thought it was spot on by Lance, our manager, and I pause by saying this, but Lance said, ‘You know what this is? That’s post-nut clarity, and he’s spot on.”

Nicksick believes that both Strickland and Chimaev simply gained respect for one another once the Octagon door closed and both men went toe-to-toe in a bloody affair.

“It’s like, these dudes hated each other, wanted to kill each other, and then went 25 minutes, toe-to-toe, to a narrow split decision, just took years off of each other’s life. How can you not respect the guy across from you? At least for the 15 minutes or 10 minutes after the fight, there was at least some common ground there, and Lance looked over at me, he goes, ‘You know what that is? That’s post-nut clarity right there.’ I’m like, ‘Bro, you nailed it, man.’”

Are you buying Eric Nicksick’s claim that the beef between Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev wasn’t manufactured? Sound off in the comments below.