UFC 328: Chimaev vs Strickland - May 9 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

Apologies in advance, this’ll be a long ramble. It’s taken me all week to even be arsed to comment on this walking bag of vomit becoming two time champ.

Awful scenes. But I guess I’ve got to begrudgingly give credit. Whether we like it or not, this twat can now say he took the title off Israel Adesanya and Khamzat Chimaev. Sean Strickland of all people. I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted a few years ago, that Strickland would be the one to hand Khamzat his first loss. MMA is fucking weird. I haven’t watched it back but on first viewing I had Khamzat taking it 3-2. Accuse me of being a hater or biased but that’s legit how I had it. Can’t remember now which rounds exactly I scored to who but I do remember thinking the third was the ‘swing round’, with them splitting the other four 2-2. And I recall that third round being close and one where you could make a solid case for either of them. My recollection of that round is that Strickland had more volume but I felt like Khamzat did more damage, hence me leaning towards him. But although I had Khamzat edging it, I wouldn’t be outraged at anyone scoring that round for Strickland either. So yeah, a less long-winded way of saying it would be that I had Khamzat winning the fight but I didn’t think Strickland getting the nod was a bad decision. And definitely not a robbery. I hate admitting that but fair’s fair.

This was a bit much for me. Helwani and Strickland have got into a big tedious back and forth on this with Helwani predictably making multiple videos beating the subject to death like the boring little nerd he is. Can’t stand either of them so I’m not gonna take a side. But while I get the whole ‘they were just building a fight’ bollocks usually, this was a different case where you had Strickland calling him “goat fucker” for weeks, slagging off Muslims every chance he got and outright calling Khamzat’s mother a “whore” at the weigh in. Then after the fight they’re all up each others arses? I doubt Khamzat okayed him saying that stuff beforehand. It’s not like I even wanted them to carry on the beef post-fight. Nothing good was gonna come from that and I’m actually glad there weren’t the ugly post-fight scenes I think many expected. But to go from ripping into Muslims and insulting the guy’s mum to then going ‘Oh no I love my Muslim fans, Khamzat’s a great guy really’ isn’t really gonna cut it. There’s faking beef to sell a fight, and I think that’s lame anyway. But he crossed lines here and said things you can’t just take back and chalk up to fight promotion. And for people who use this to go ‘See, Sean’s a good guy really’, I’d say that’s shite. The fact he’s happy to use religion, racism, homophobia and insulting family members merely as ‘promotion’ for his own financial gain tells you all you need to know about what a piece of shit he is.

The worst/funniest thing about Strickland getting a big win like this is all the dopey talk you get from his fans in the fallout. State of shite like this…

Just one of many examples I’ve seen this week. He’s champ again and this was a legitimately great win for him, you’d think that should be enough. But no, we have to get silly and start with the ‘Strickland is the GOAT!!’ talk. He was 2-2 in his last four coming into this fight, for fuck’s sake 🤣 I compare his resume at 185 to Fabricio Werdum’s at Heavyweight and I think it fits. Werdum had skills but he never had a prolonged run of consistency where he could put together a real streak of wins over a series of top guys. He had a bunch of losses sprinkled in there. He also had wins over three of the greatest Heavyweights of all time in Fedor, Cain and Big Nog. Do you consider Werdum the GOAT Heavyweight? Of course not. Strickland’s now in the conversation when it comes to the best Middleweights ever but his overall record doesn’t match Anderson Silva’s. Sorry, it just doesn’t.

Rogan saying this was “one of the best Middleweight title fights ever” made me laugh as well. It was dramatic and Strickland ending Khamzat’s unbeaten streak was a significant moment. But best fights? Like actual fights? I get some are high on it now because it just happened but this isn’t gonna stand the test of time when it comes to ‘great fights’ convos in the future. Even if we’re just talking Middleweight, this fight couldn’t hold a candle to Adesanya vs Gastelum, Silva vs Sonnen 1, Whittaker vs Romero 1 and 2 or even Weidman vs Machida, which is a forgotten great fight.

Strickland’s little apologetic attempt at a babyface turn probably isn’t gonna last long. I’m guessing he’ll be defending against Nassourdine Imavov next, another Muslim, so he’ll probably forget about all his “Muslim fans” again, like he has any, so he can “sell the fight”, even though there’s no PPV now, so who’s he even “selling” it to? There’s no “money fights” anymore. You get paid whatever you negotiated for your contract and that’s it. No cut of the PPV because UFC PPVs don’t exist. So all this pathetic edgelord ragebaiting shit is for what exactly?

As for Khamzat, where does he go from here? Light Heavyweight apparently. Dana said Khamzat told him after the fight that he’s done at 185 and wants to move up to 205. I don’t like it. For one, I felt like he looked smaller than Strickland in the cage. And while he dominated DDP, he wasn’t able to finish. Went to a close decision with short notice Usman at 185 as well. The only finish he’s managed against a top Middleweight was against Whittaker. An admittedly scary performance but that’s one finish out of his last four fights at 185. So I’m not even sure how effective he is at Middleweight, much less how his game is gonna carry up to 205. As a small Light Heavyweight, is he even gonna be strong and physical enough to get his wrestling going in the same way he did at 170/185? How’s he gone from struggling to make weight at 170, to moving up to 185 and now blaming the weight cut again after just a few fights at that weight? What happens if he loses at 205? Is he off to Heavyweight then? Whatever happens, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fighter lose their monster aura quicker than Khamzat has.

Van vs Taira was fantastic. What a fight. I picked Taira going in and when he got the takedown and got straight into mount in the opening seconds of the fight I thought my prediction was gonna come true in disappointingly one-sided fashion. Thankfully that wasn’t the case though and we got a real back and forth battle with twists and turns. Van showed improvements in his defensive grappling as well. Taira was able to take him down a lot and get dominant positions but Van was doing well with the butterfly guard and did a good job not leaving his back exposed much, which is usually Taira’s sweet spot and was clearly what he was trying to create an opening for. Taira showed real heart and toughness as well. Even that second round knockdown was heavy and he ate it and survived. The third was brutal on Taira. Van fucked him up, especially with his jab, and I actually thought he might be about to sub Taira at one point, which would’ve been a surprise. Taira came out fired up in the 4th and had a good round. Then the finish in the 5th…

I can see why Taira felt like it was a premature stoppage. If you’re him, you would, wouldn’t you? He was still conscious so, to him, he can still win the fight. But he was getting battered there and every punch from Van was landing and snapping Taira’s head back. Considering the accumulation of damage Taira had taken, I can kind of see why the ref jumped in. Definitely leaves an argument for a rematch down the line though and a story to tell if it happens. Given how young they both are, you have to think they’re bound to cross paths again whether the belt is on the line or not.

On 5/13/2026 at 7:48 AM, Dai said:

Van/Taira was a banger. Wont be a MOTY contender, but still a cracker.

Wouldn’t be number one but I’d definitely have Van vs Taira on the FOTY contender list, even just as an honourable mention, unless we’ve got loads of bangers coming in the next 7 months that end up pushing it down the list. Thought it was tremendous. Probably the best Flyweight fight since Figgy vs Moreno 1 for me.

On 5/13/2026 at 7:48 AM, Dai said:

Must be an immediate rematch Id assume.

I wouldn’t hate it but I can’t see it myself. I’ve seen clips of Pantoja back in the gym so he’s probably gonna be back soon. And he should get first dibs surely, given his reign and how the first fight with Van played out and ended. There’s unfinished business there and not only would it be fair to Pantoja, it would also give Van the opportunity to really solidify himself as champion if he can legitimately beat Pantoja. It’s the right fight to make. I’d like to see Taira have a fight or two and get a couple of training camps in to get a bit more seasoning before having another run at the gold. He’s still only 26, there’s no rush and he might be better equipped to win the title at that point. I still wouldn’t rule him out of becoming the first Japanese UFC champion. After a fight like this, he’s not gonna be far from another title shot regardless. Horiguchi could potentially beat him to it now though but we’ll see how the division plays out. Feels kind of wide open at 125 now, which is really refreshing and cool when you consider the possibilities of mixing and matching you can do in the title picture now with Van, Pantoja, Taira, Horiguchi, Kape, Royval and Kavanagh. A whole bunch of potential FOTY candidates with that lot.

Volkov vs Waldo was shit but I was happy to see Volkov get the win just because I was getting sick of seeing people talk like Waldo is elite based off wins over Ante Delija, Shamil Gaziev and a Derrick Lewis who looked like he couldn’t be arsed. Fair enough, Waldo was way more watchable in that little stretch of wins than he was earlier in his UFC career but I wasn’t on board with the sudden ‘Salsa Boy’ love-in. A lot of fans seemed to forget that Waldo got shut down in a plodding snoozer by a gun-shy Sergei Pavlovich as recently as last August, yet he was being talked about like some world beater by the start of this year. Glad to see Volkov put an end to that silliness. Even if it was rotten to watch. Don’t know what’s next for Volkov but whatever it is I hope it’s a good fight. Because the Jailton Almeida stinker and then this load of wank back-to-back has been brutal to watch. Can see them doing him vs Hokit actually if Hokit beats Lewis at the White House.

Sean Brady didn’t knock anyone’s socks off but it was a dominant performance, a lopsided decision win and you’d think it’s just what the doctor ordered coming off that first round clobbering he got from Michael Morales last time out. A finish would’ve been ideal but all in all this had to be very satisfying for Brady, especially given the needle between him and Buckley when the fight was signed. I’d imagine Brady is pretty much a lock for UFC 330 in August now with it being in Philly. I’d expect him to be in a prominent main card fight on that one against a name. Seeing a lot of talk of him fighting Kamaru Usman and that would do the trick. I’d be interested to see that.

Gotta think King Green pretty much drove the final nail in the coffin for Jeremy Stephens as far as MMA goes. At the very least he’s surely done for life with the UFC now. Haven’t seen anything confirming that but I’d be surprised if they bring him back again. He’s gone 0-2 since they first brought him back last year, he missed weight for this fight and didn’t seem to give a fuck, publicly criticised the UFC, then got subbed in a round by Green and looked pretty crap in the process and he’s gonna be 40 at the end of this month. Oh, and I saw a stat that Stephens now has the most losses in UFC history with 20. Yeah, he’s a goner isn’t he? Probably be back in Bare Knuckle by summer.

Ateba Gautier got back to his finishing ways after going the distance in his last fight. He had no bother with Ozzy Diaz here, took his time in the first but found the big shot in the second.

Could argue the stoppage was too soon and maybe it was but I was fine with it. The way Ozzy fell like crash test dummy, like he lost all control of his body, I can see why the ref waved it off. Best part of it was, when the first round ended and Diaz went back to his stool, you could clearly hear him tell his cornermen “He has no power”. Ha. How’d that work out for you, Oswald? Seen all kinds of reaction to this win, from ‘Gautier is a future champ’ to ‘Gautier’s a fraud’. I don’t think fights like these are anything to base either opinion on though. The jury’s still massively out on him. I’ve said before that I’d be happy to see him just keep getting fed ham and eggers like this for the rest of the year, and step him up in 2027. But I’m more leaning towards the ‘why wait?’ mentality now. While him smashing up nobodies and getting the reps is no bad thing, he’s not really gonna learn much or develop at this level. Wouldn’t mind seeing him get a proper test next. And even if he loses, he’s only 23, he’s got time to come back from it. I know he’s calling for a fight with Israel Adesanya now but I’m not sure how to feel about that. I’m not keen. Saw some suggestions for doing Gautier vs ‘Robocop’ Rodrigues though and, man, it might not last very long but imagine the violence that would bring?

Yaroslav Amosov looked quality again and against a really tough and dangerous opponent in Joel Alvarez. Bear in mind the only man to beat Alvarez in his previous 9 fights was Arman Tsarukyan. Alvarez is no joke and Amosov completely outclassed him, outgrappled him and put the cherry on top with a beauty of a submission followed by a spinaroonie that puts Booker T’s to shame.

Now can you dig that? SUCKAAAA!

He improves to 30-1 and is now ranked #10 at Welterweight according to the UFC website as I type this. Funnily enough, the only man to ever beat him is Jason Jackson and he’s fighting on the Rousey vs Carano card on Netflix tomorrow night. But yeah, Amosov might be a real issue in the UFC’s 170 division and it is nice to see at least one Bellator guy come over and not shit the bed. He didn’t come in with the fanfare of a Chandler, Pitbull, Pico or even Patchy Mix, but he’s definitely the one who’s came in most looking like a legit contender. And at 32 years old, he’s probably still in his prime. For once, a great pickup by the UFC, at a time when they often let guys like this slip away to another promotion. Not sure what’s next for Amosov though. Looking at the names above him in the rankings, I wouldn’t mind seeing Amosov vs Brady or even Usman, to be honest. But I reckon they’ll do Usman vs Brady next. If not one of them, maybe I’m wrong but I can’t see them giving Amosov someone coming off a loss like JDM, Edwards or Buckley next. Maybe they go with Belal if he beats Bonfim at the Apex in early June?

Grant Dawson outgrappling and subbing Mateusz Rebecki was pretty much how I saw that one playing out. What I didn’t expect though, was for Rebecki to willingly grapple so much with Dawson, who’s one of the better grapplers in the Lightweight division. Even more confusing was Rebecki dropping Dawson in the second round, then instead of letting him up when he was still groggy and ripe for the finish, he grabs him and ends up tangled up in a clinch against the fence, allowing Dawson to recover enough to survive the round and then get the choke in the third. Every time they were striking, it wasn’t pretty but Rebecki was getting the better of it. He’ll have been kicking himself when he watched that second round back. That turned out to be his one chance and he blew it. Fair play to Dawson though. Survived some rough spells and found the late finish. Really could’ve done without the Bible thumping bit in the post-fight interview but whatever.

Loved seeing Jim Miller get the first round guillotine (Miller-tine?) sub in his home city. Nothing against Jared Gordon but it was the feel-good moment the card needed given the toxicity of the main event.

I’ve thought for a while that I’d rather see Miller call it a day but then you see him here and it’s mad how good he still looks when you consider how long he’s been at it, his age and how many fights he’s had. Look up the card for UFC 89 in Brum, which is the card Miller made his Octagon debut on, and I don’t think there’s another guy on that entire card who’s still fighting. Some of them have been retired a decade or more. And here’s Miller, still going strong at 42 years old and 59 fights deep into his career. You just don’t see longevity like that in MMA, especially in the lighter weight classes. The man’s an absolute soldier. Don’t get me wrong, he’s clearly past his prime and I wouldn’t wanna see him put in with top ranked Lightweights or dangerous young prospects. But against fellow veterans like Gordon, he’s clearly still got the capability to perform well. I still hope he stops soon though. When he was making noises about calling it a day at UFC 300 a couple of years ago, that seemed like the ideal time to bow out. Then he backed off on that talk and now the deadline seems to be ‘when I hit 50 fights in the UFC’, which he’s only three away from now. We’ll see. I’ve got a feeling that will come and go and he’ll create a new finish line. Mad bastard. He can’t hang on for UFC 400 though. He just can’t. UFC 400 is probably gonna be around 2031/32ish, Miller will be 48/49 then. Surely not. Dana did confirm he’s signed a new 5 fight deal though so it looks like he’s definitely gonna hit that ‘50 UFC fights’ milestone. 

One last thing on Miller, the stuff about his son beating cancer was great to hear. I only heard the story fairly recently in the run up to this show, but it was really touching to see Miller get to have that moment in his post-fight interview, with his family in attendance, giving a shout out to his boy “kicking the shit out of cancer”. Also saw this great picture on Twitter of Miller’s lad…

He’s obviously every bit the fighter his old man is. This has gotta rank right up there for me when it comes to genuine feel-good MMA moments. Lovely stuff.

Roman Kopylov rightly got the decision over Norma Dumont’s fella but, Jesus Christ man, Kopylov was so frustrating and baffling to watch here. Similar to Rebecki in the Dawson fight later but even worse because Kopylov had Tulio badly hurt twice, in the second round and again in the third. And both times he let him off the hook by initiating a clinch or takedown for no reason against a guy who was dead on his feet. A real head scratcher. Did Kopylov bet on himself to win on points or something? The finish was there for him on a plate twice and he chose to tie up with him as if he was the one who was hurt and needed to buy time. One of the worst displays of a lack of Fight IQ in recent memory. Just mind boggling.

Sabatini vs Gomis got the fast forward x2 treatment from me because life’s too short. I went in fully expecting a bit of a snoozer and from what I saw that’s exactly what we got. Sabatini winning was the lesser of two evils for me. Not a fan of either but Gomis is a dirty fighter as well as a boring one, whereas Sabatini is just dull but not a cheater. So a small positive in a fight I was otherwise completely indifferent to.

Baisangur Susurkaev got the job done again. Stays undefeated and got the finish against a guy who’d never been finished before in Djorden Santos. Still not 100% sold on Susurkaev but so far, so good, I guess.

Oh and if you didn’t catch Jose Ochoa vs Clayton Carpenter on the Fight Pass bit, it’s worth a look just to see the beautiful performance Ochoa put on. He looked sharp as fuck here. Just a glimpse of it in gif form…

It was pretty much 15 minutes of stuff like that. Carpenter must be tough as shit because, aside from a couple of brief moments in the grappling, he got nothing done here and took a right beating. The fact he lasted the full three rounds is a testament to his durability. Because Ochoa was putting it on him the whole fight. Love watching Ochoa. Think I bigged him up in the opening post but if you haven’t already I’d really recommend making a point to check out his fights in the future. Don’t let the 2-2 UFC record fool you, he’s great to watch.

Edited May 15 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

22 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Helwani and Strickland have got into a big tedious back and forth on this with Helwani predictably making multiple videos beating the subject to death like the boring little nerd he is. Can’t stand either of them so I’m not gonna take a side.

I haven't consumed any of Helwani's content properly in a decade or so. However, from the brief clips I've seen of his show, it's pretty dire and he talks a lot of shite. 

I recall around 15 years ago, when Helwani was almost universally liked, that one of the Sherdog staffers revealed information about a chat he'd had with Helwani. Apparently Helwani was content to remain stagnant, and didn't really strive to become a better analyst of the sport. In retrospect, that conversation was probably a warning of things to come.

22 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

The worst/funniest thing about Strickland getting a big win like this is all the dopey talk you get from his fans in the fallout. State of shite like this…

😄

GSP and Strickland both jab a lot, so therefore they must be similar I guess. 

22 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

The only finish he’s managed against a top Middleweight was against Whittaker. An admittedly scary performance but that’s one finish out of his last four fights at 185.

The condition of Whittaker's teeth probably made the face lock finish appear more devastating than it actually was. Still, a great win for Chimaev though. 

The warning signs were there in the Burns and Usman bouts that Chimaev wasn't the unbeatable beast that he'd been billed as. Strickland, to his credit, had the defensive grappling to further expose Chimaev's limitations, and did so. Also, unlike Burns and Usman he had 5 rounds to do it in. 25 minute fights will always be more difficult for an energy limited fighter like Chimaev than 15 minute fights. 

22 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

So I’m not even sure how effective he is at Middleweight, much less how his game is gonna carry up to 205. As a small Light Heavyweight, is he even gonna be strong and physical enough to get his wrestling going in the same way he did at 170/185? How’s he gone from struggling to make weight at 170, to moving up to 185 and now blaming the weight cut again after just a few fights at that weight? What happens if he loses at 205? Is he off to Heavyweight then? Whatever happens, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fighter lose their monster aura quicker than Khamzat has.

The drastic weight cut and energy-consuming style of wrestling no doubt contribute to Chimaev's lack of endurance. 

However, he also has breathing issues due to a childhood accident and has had lingering symptoms after contacting Covid in 2020. I therefore suspect that his cardio issues would transfer over to the heavier weight classes, as well as the other issues you mentioned.