Strickland defeats Chimaev by split decision to win middleweight title

Sean Strickland defeated Khamzat Chimaev via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) to become the new UFC middleweight champion. The post raises questions about what happened to Chimaev in the second round when he suddenly fell to his back mid-round. Chimaev controlled for 4 minutes and 44 seconds in the first round but appeared to change his approach afterward. The author speculates that Chimaev may not have been as functionally prepared for this fight as he was for his bout against Dricus Du Plessis, possibly due to issues with his weight cut. Chimaev seemed to conserve energy in the third round and avoided wrestling entirely.