Although I didn't watch a great deal of it, I did pop in every now and then to see a bit of UFC 328. The bookies didn't really give Sean Strickland much of a chance of winning this one and honestly, neither did I. He was at times more than a +500 underdog and when you start getting to numbers that high, it means that the industry doesn't really have any faith that the person in question even has much of a chance.
It wouldn't be the only time that the bookies were wrong on this night though. It happened a number of times.
I believe the main reason why Strickland wasn't given much of a chance of winning this is because his opponent and now former middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev was undefeated, and had a wrestling style that takes opponents to the mat and keeps them there, winning either by points or by the occasional submission.
Sean on the other hand is a mostly stand-up brawler with incredible cardio and perseverance that is calm and rather relentless. Most of the time when you take two guys with opposing and very different strategies like this, it is the wrestler and the "ground control guy" that wins the fight. That is just the nature of MMA at the moment and even though I think it is boring, the wrestling and ground control guys do have a system that works to their benefit, even if it isn't the most exciting thing to watch.
In the first round, it looked like the prediction on the fight was exactly what we were going to get as Chimaev went to the ground at his first opportunity, and then kept the fight there for the rest of the round. I thought at that point that the remaining 4 rounds were going to be more of the same. Then something rather strange happened when Chimaev continued to shoot for takedowns and all of a sudden wasn't getting them. Then something that nobody expected happened, Strickland was turning the takedowns back on Khamzat and it was Sean who was controlling the game on the ground.
This pic says a lot about the ground game in UFC. Does Strickland look worried to you? Well, from round 2 onward, it appeared as though whatever it was that Chimaev was hoping to accomplish on the ground, simply wasn't working. Sean had some sort of answer for the mad scrambling once they got to the ground and even reversed a few of the grappling sequences. Then in round 3 I think it was, Chimaev didn't even shoot for a takedown at all and instead decided to stay upright and fight with punches and kicks. This sort of fight favors Sean but I have to say that I was impressed because Chimaev, who is one of those fighters that I believe is always looking for a way to take it to the ground, was holding his own in a standing way against a guy who is known for being able to do that for a long period of time.
They exchanged blows standing and a lot of heavy hits made their way through and remarkably, nobody got rattled, but both men ended up with bloody noses due to jabs getting through on both ends.
When the 5 rounds were complete, the people in the stands were all on their feet and honestly, it was anyone's guess who was going to get the nod from the officials. They say to never leave it in the hands of the judges but when it was announced the first of 3 judges rules Chimaev won the fight, then the 2nd rules Strickland had won. The 3rd ruled in favor of Strickland and we have a new champion.
Chimaev was a good sport about it, and nobody congratulated Strickland more than he did as he put the belt around his opponent's waist after the announcement was made.
These guys trained at the same gym in the past and a lot of harsh words were thrown back and forth between the two leading up to this fight but based on the way that they behaved towards one another during and especially after the fight, I cant help but feel as though a great deal of the animosity between the two of them was manufactured to get more eyes on the match.
Strickland certainly deserved the win and now this really shakes up the middleweight division. After Dricus Du Plessis lost rather convincingly to Khamzat Chimaev, it looked like Sean was just a consolation bout before that rematch. Now this changes things and I would imagine that the next middleweight championship fight that we see will be DDP vs Strickland and this fight will end up being one of the most-watched events of 2026, if they can get it out the door fast enough.
UFC is notoriously slow and uncaring about their official website and at the moment the middleweight division still hasn't been updated to reflect what happened last night.
I have been on a tear stating that UFC events are boring now, but for the 3 fights that I bothered to watch last night, UFC kind of proved me wrong on that and maybe this is a sign that something has been said in the locker rooms to the fighters that they all need to get their act together or something, who knows. There was of course still entirely too many commercials and the time between matches was excessive, but the actual fights last night were winners. Maybe UFC is turning a corner and also realizes that they were starting to lose their edge. I certainly hope so