Sean Strickland defeated Hamzat Chimaev via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) to become the new UFC middleweight champion at UFC 328. The analysis notes confusion about what happened to Chimaev in the second round when he suddenly fell to his back mid-round, though he continued fighting without apparent injury afterward. Chimaev appeared to conserve energy in the third round and avoided wrestling exchanges entirely. The author suggests Chimaev was not as functionally prepared for this fight as he was for his bout with Du Plessis, potentially due to weight cut issues. Chimaev had 4 minutes and 44 seconds of control time in the first round before the mysterious second-round incident.
UFC 328
Saturday, May 9, 2026
