How Eric Nicksick ended up cornering Sean Sharaf for shock knockout at UFC 331

Eric Nicksick only found out about cornering Sean Sharaf at UFC 331 hours before.

Sharaf (5-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) scored one of the biggest upsets in UFC history when he knocked out Gable Steveson (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) this past Saturday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Sharaf sought help from Xtreme Couture head honcho Nicksick after an emergency ruled out UFC heavyweight Serghei Spivac from his corner. Nicksick was caught off guard when he was approached.

"I've known Sean for a while," Nicksick told MMA Junkie Radio. "He's been cross-training in and out of Xtreme. Sean Strickland and I cornered him for the Junior Tafa fight. That was on short notice. I believe he got that fight on like three or four days' notice. So we're very familiar with each other, but it was kind of crazy how everything went down. I was in the back and we're warming up Edmen Shahbazyan, and then a couple of UFC personnel came back there and they're like, 'Hey, what do you need for Sean's Sharaf's corner?' And I was like, 'What are you talking about? I don't even know what you're talking about.'

"I was like, '(Jason) Manly's in his corner. And they're like, 'No, he just wrote us and said that he needs you to hop in the corner.' I'm so confused. He's got my number. So I went and called (Sharaf) and then it went straight to voicemail or like a disconnected number. I'm like, this is weird, dude. I don't know what the hell's going on. And then I looked at those like unknowns in your text messages and he must have changed his number. So, I had like a text from him and it was like, 'Yo coach, if it's a problem, just say no, but I need you in my corner. Serghei Spivac, his wife (is) having the baby. So can you just hop in my corner for me?' I was like, 'Sure, brother. I'm there.'"

Nicksick recalls having a brief conversation with Sharaf regarding the matchup, but takes zero credit for his monumental moment.

"I talked with them a little bit in the PI a while back. He just kind of went over a few little things that he was asking about, like concept wise vs. Gable," Nicksick said. "We spent like 20 minutes together, so there was no game plan. There's a couple things that we went over, and then in the back, I watched a little bit of tape and literally the only thing I was talking to him about was when Gable goes southpaw. I was like, 'Hey, when he's southpaw, these are the things that I'm seeing,' and none of that even mattered.

"So we were just in there, and he was going over a couple things, and helped him with a couple routes and that was that, man. He did everything. His coach and camp, they all worked on everything that they did in preparation for him for that fight. They did an excellent job. I just had the best seat in the house. ... I was backseat to one of the best underdog moments of MMA history. It was pretty cool to be a part of."