A middleweight title fight between current champion Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland will headline UFC 328 on May 9th in Newark, New Jersey.
The undefeated Khamzat won the 185lb title last time out with a dominant unanimous decision win over Dricus du Plessis in August last year.
That took the 31-year-old’s career record to a perfect 15-0, and confirmed what many had suspected when he first burst onto the UFC scene back in 2020 with three wins in the space of a month, that he was a future champion in the making.
Injuries and illness stalled Khamzat’s progress after that whirlwind start to his UFC career, but despite his lengthy layoffs he’s always managed to get back on track when he sets foot in the Octagon, picking up wins over the likes of Gilbert Burns, Kevin Holland, Kamaru Usman and Robert Whittaker along the way.
Now he’ll go up against a former champion in the 35-year-old Strickland, who picked up a big win last time out when he ended Anthony Hernandez’s eight-fight winning streak courtesy of a third round TKO finish.
Strickland briefly held the title back in 2023 with an upset decision win against Israel Adesanya, but Dricus du Plessis defeated him by split-decision just a few months later.
Strickland went on to beat Paulo Costa by split-decision to pave the way for a rematch with DDP, but lost again by unanimous decision.
Khamzat vs. Strickland will front a UFC 328 card that will also feature the likes of Alexander Volkov vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta, Sean Brady vs. Joaquin Buckley, Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov and King Green vs. Jeremy Stephens.
