Sean Strickland stuns Khamzat Chimaev to hand Russian first loss and regain title at UFC 328
Strickland, a huge underdog, outpointed his bitter rival and former training partner to become a two-time middleweight champion
Sean Strickland has now produced two of the greatest upsets in UFC history. On Saturday, in the main event of UFC 328, the controversial American secured an unlikely decision win over Khamzat Chimaev , regaining the middleweight title as he became the first fighter to beat the Russian. After five rounds in Newark, New Jersey, every scorecard read 48-47, with two favouring Strickland and one going Chimaev’s way.
Khamzat Chimaev (right) was beaten for the first time, as Sean Strickland won via decision (Getty) The narrative heading into the bout was that Chimaev would employ his typically-dominant wrestling to breeze past his former training partner , an awkward striker with whom he had produced a volatile build-up – even kicking Strickland at the press conference , after they had traded vulgar verbal barbs. And when the Russian secured a takedown inside 15 seconds of round one, it seemed these predictions would be vindicated. Indeed, Chimaev controlled Strickland for the entirety of the round and seemed somewhat close to locking in a rear naked choke on a couple of occasions.
But in round two, the 32-year-old was already exhausted, with Strickland easily defending his first two takedown attempts. Strickland, 35, ended up in Chimaev’s guard after the first attempt and rained down strikes, while the second failed takedown led the champion to drop to his back and invite guard again. It was an entirely-unexpected visual, with Strickland proceeding to win the round handily.
Also unexpected were the frequent glove touches between the rivals, given the intensity of their pre-fight exchanges, which had led the UFC to employ extra security in the cage before the contest started. Chimaev controlled Strickland for the entirety of the first round but grappled much less thereafter (Reuters) Chimaev’s body language was discouraging heading into round three, with the Russian needing a serious pep talk from his team. And he seemed to narrowly lose the round, which was contested entirely on the feet, after Chimaev did not try a single takedown.