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Khamjat Chimayev goes for his first defense of the UFC middleweight championship when he takes on the former titleholder Sean Strickland Saturday in the main event of UFC 328 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Chimayev, who defeated Drikas du Plessis to claim the belt at UFC 319 last August, is undefeated in professional MMA and ranked No. 5 in ESPN’s pound-for-pound fighter. Each of his previous three wins came over a former UFC champion (Kamaru Usman, Robert Whittaker and du Plessis).
Strickland, ranked No. 4 in ESPN’s middleweight rankings, entered the fight off a third-round TKO victory. Anthony Hernandez This will be his fourth middleweight championship fight in February. He beat Israel Adesanya to capture the belt at UFC 293 in September 2023, then lost his next two title fights to Du Plessis in 2024 and 2025.
A panel of three former UFC fighters provide picks and insight for the UFC 328 main event.
Light heavyweight title fight
It takes an expert
I’m fairly confident that Khamjat will get it done against Sean. I don’t think Shawn can stop Chimaev’s takedowns; No one else has. Shawn has decent takedown defense, but this is different. Shawn’s footwork isn’t the best, and it has to be great to guess Khamjat. And to give himself a chance, he needs to stay off the fence by any means necessary. Sean is very heavy on the front legs. These jabs and tip kicks are effective, but they aren’t devastating enough to change the fight. — Dustin Poirier
I hate picking against Russian fighters — they always think I’m mad at them — but I’m going to say Shawn gets the win here. Shawn’s performances are sometimes better than the show, and this is a big opportunity in a fight he calls I think he can actually stop Khamjat wrestling.
Other Khamjat opponents were not as good at returning. Shawn Drikas is a better defensive grappler than Du Plessis, whom Khamjat defeated to claim the title, and Strickland realizes that the more he takes Khamjat down, the more it will wear Khamjat out. Shawn’s jab and front kick should stop some takedowns. Khamjat is a great fighter, but in recent fights he has shown that he is very beatable. — your thomas
We’re going to see Sean tested in an area of his game that we haven’t really done before. MMA fans respect Strickland’s wrestling, but they’re leaving out stories from the gym. We hear all the time, “Sean is hard to take down,” but when have we seen him fight? Khamjat will test his wrestling, and I think Shawn will pass that test. Chimaev will take down Strickland — not comfortably, but he will take down Shawn. This matchup will become interesting in the later rounds, as Shawn becomes harder to take down and bounces back when he goes down. But in the end, I think Khamjat will win — maybe three rounds to two. Decisive, but not a closure. — Michael Church
