Strickland defeats Chimaev via split decision to become new UFC middleweight champion

Sean Strickland defeated Khamzat Chimaev by split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) to become the new UFC middleweight champion. The analyst described the bout's biggest mystery as what happened to Chimaev in the middle of the second round when he suddenly fell to his back. After that moment, Chimaev continued fighting without apparent injury, but appeared to conserve energy in the third round by avoiding grappling exchanges entirely. Chimaev was noted to be less functionally prepared for this bout compared to his fight with Du Plessis, possibly due to weight-cutting issues. The first round had gone well for Chimaev with 4 minutes and 44 seconds of control time before the unexplained second-round incident.