Chimaev Defends Middleweight Title vs Strickland at UFC 328

Khamzat Chimaev will defend his UFC middleweight championship against rival Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 328 on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, as their long-simmering feud threatens to boil over during fight week.

The bout marks Chimaev's first title defense since he captured the belt with a unanimous decision victory over Dricus du Plessis in August 2025. In that fight, the Chechen-born fighter dominated with grappling, accumulating over 21 minutes of control time and landing 12 takedowns across five rounds, though critics noted the lack of significant strikes or a finish. Strickland, a former champion, earned his shot with a second-round knockout of Anthony Hernandez in February, rebounding from back-to-back losses to du Plessis in 2024 and last year. The American's path to the title was complicated by those defeats, which some observers attributed to stylistic mismatches against the South African's unorthodox approach.

Tensions between the fighters, who once trained together at Xtreme Couture, escalated earlier this year through online exchanges. Chimaev claimed he routinely beat Strickland in sparring sessions, a assertion disputed by...