Strickland responded to his coach's ultimatum

"I love Eric. He is my friend and will remain my friend. Will he still be in my corner? Probably not. We have a lot of great guys in Xtreme, a lot of fighters that could be in my corner. This whole training camp has just been a battle. It was a heck of a battle and we all have excuses why we didn't win, why we won or why we shouldn't have won. We all have damn excuses, but they don't mean anything."