Sean Strickland Dethrones Khamzat Chimaev By Split Decision Victory
Saturday night at UFC 328 from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, Sean Strickland utilized a sound game plan to disable to tactics of Khamzat Chimaev, and secured the middleweight title that he once held between 2023 and 2024.
Strickland ran into trouble in the first round when Chimaev secured an early, yet expected, takedown. This resulted in the Chechen wrestler controlling the round, with very little offensive output from Strickland. But in the second, the American flipped the script and was the clear victor in that five-minute stanza. From there, both seemed to have earned each other’s respect, and spent a large part of the rest of the fight trading strikes while standing.
Chimaev was landing large, looping punches that Strickland could not defend with his typical shoulder roll approach. But despite absorbing these shots, Strickland kept his jab moving, and was able to counter punch in many of the bigger exchanges.
When the fifth and final round came to a close, most felt the fight could have gone either way, but Strickland managed to edge out Khamzat Chimaev on the judges’ scorecards, securing the victory by split decision and the 185-pound title.
Following the match, which had nothing but bad blood in the lead-up, Chimaev wrapped the UFC belt around the waist of Strickland as a sign of respect. During the post-fight interview, Strickland took the opportunity to apologize for some things he said during the UFC 328 press conferences, stating he ‘had gone too far’.
Sean Strickland gets the belt wrapped around his waist by Khamzat Chimaev
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UFC 328Â Main Card Results:
- Sean Strickland def. Khamzat Chimaev via Decision (Split)—Middleweight Title Match
- Joshua Van def. Tatsuro Taira via TKO (Punces) Round 5, 1:32—Flyweight Title Match
- Alexander Volkov def. Waldo Cortes-Acosta via Decision (Unanimous)—Heavyweight
- Sean Brady def. Joaquin Buckley via Decision (Unanimous)—Welterweight
- King Green def. Jeremy Stephens via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Round 1, 4:20—160-Pound Catchweight