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 highlights a mysterious moment in the second round when Chimaev suddenly fell to his back mid-round, though he appeared uninjured afterward. Chimaev controlled the fight for 4 minutes and 44 seconds in the first round but seemed to conserve energy and avoided wrestling in the third round. The analysis suggests Chimaev was not as well-conditioned for this fight as he was for his bout against Dricus Du Plessis, potentially due to weight cut difficulties.