Things have reached a boiling point in the middleweight division ahead of Saturday’s UFC 328 event in Newark, N.J., as newly minted UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev looks to handle unfinished business against former champion Sean Strickland in the headliner of a 13-fight card.
The friends-turned-enemies let the racial insults fly Thursday evening at the Prudential Center in front of a rambunctious crowd at the pre-fight press conference.
The UFC allowed both men to do the traditional ceremonial faceoff before security pulled both off the stage after Chimaev kicked Strickland in the leg, marking a dark climax to a chaotic week of separation before the fight.
Strickland (30-7 MMA) was visibly frustrated the entire press conference, screaming throughout at Chimaev (15-0 MMA) about his Russian heritage and how he’s now classified as fighting from the United Arab Emirates. Chimaev, in turn, invoked Strickland’s abusive father and childhood trauma.
“He’s going to be dead in two days,” Chimaev said. ” … I’ll be your daddy in the cage. I’ve been all day, every day, your daddy. You know about it. I’m your daddy. Listen to your daddy.”
UFC CEO Dana White said the rivalry has bad blood, which has made it a top-three rivalry in the promotion’s history.
Unlike Dricus du Plessis, who lost to Chimaev at UFC 319 after Chimaev used a dominant wrestling base, Strickland made one thing clear.
“They don’t want to watch a boring-ass f****** fight,” Strickland said. “I want you to wrestle. I will outwrestle you.”
Strickland described Chimaev’s sparring session against him, which has since resurfaced on social media, as a 2022 “warm-up match” that set Chimaev off.
Hostility aside, Chimaev enters the fight with four submission wins in nine UFC matches. Strickland earned the title shot off a third-round TKO defeat of Anthony Hernandez at UFC Houston in February.
The fight is set as a five-rounder, marking Chimaev’s first title defense while Strickland attempts to regain the title after relinquishing it to du Plessis in January of 2024 at UFC 297.
The co-main event sees a re-booked flyweight title fight between Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira. The pair were supposed to meet at UFC 327 last month in Miami, Fla., but Van sustained an undisclosed minor injury that shifted the fight to this event.
Van (16-2 MMA) became the new UFC flyweight champion in December at UFC 323, as an arm injury to then-champion Alexandre Pantoja ended the fight after just 26 seconds. He is the first fighter born this century to become a UFC champion, while Taira (18-1 MMA) aims to be the first UFC champion from Japan with a win over Van, who is from Myanmar.
The main card gets underway on Paramount Plus at 9 p.m. ET.
Main card (subject to change)
— Main Event: (C) Khamzat Chimaev (15-0) vs. Sean Strickland (30-7) for UFC middleweight title
— Co-Main Event: (C) Joshua Van (16-2) vs. Tatsuro Taira (18-1) for UFC flyweight title
— Alexander Volkov (39-11) vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta (17-2), heavyweight
— Sean Brady (18-2) vs. Joaquin Buckley (21-7), welterweight
— King Green (34-17-1) vs. Jeremy Stephens (29-22), lightweight
–Field Level Media
