Sean Strickland beats Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 in upset of the year to become two-time champion

Sean Strickland scored an all-time upset to reclaim the middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 on Saturday.

Chimaev put his belt on the line for the first time against Strickland in the main event of UFC 328, having claimed middleweight gold against Dricus du Plessis last time out.

Getty

Getty

The champion was dominant on the ground in the opening round, but the tide quickly turned in favour of Strickland, who stuffed two takedowns from the champion in the second stanza and started landing his jab on the feet.

After a nip and tuck battle in round three, Chimaev was flowing on the feet, punishing Strickland with body shots as the challenger slowed down.

In the championship rounds, both men had success in what was then a fight spent mostly on the feet.

Chimaev then went back to his wrestling briefly in the fifth and final round, but the champion was also now busted up in the face.

UFC 328: Every result

Main card

• Sean Strickland def. Khamzat Chimaev via split decision to win UFC middleweight title
• Joshua Van def. Tatsuro Taira via fifth-round TKO (punches) to defend UFC flyweight title
• Alexander Volkov def. Waldo Cortes Acosta via unanimous decision – heavyweight
• Sean Brady def. Joaquin Buckley via unanimous decision – welterweight
• King Green def. Jeremy Stephens via first-round submission – lightweight

Prelims

• Ateba Gautier def. Ozzy Diaz via second-round KO (punch)
• Yaroslav Amosov def. Joel Alvarez via second-round submission – welterweight
• Grant Dawson def. Mateusz Rebecki via third-round submission – lightweight
• Jim Miller def. Jared Gordon via first-round submission – lightweight

Early prelims

• Roman Kopylov def. Marco Tulio via unanimous decision – middleweight
• Pat Sabatini def. William Gomis via unanimous decision – featherweight
• Baisangur Susurkaev def. Djorden Santos via third-round submission – middleweight
• Jose Ochoa def. Clayton Carpenter via unanimous decision

Both men exchanged heavy blows in the final seconds as the fight went the distance, and we awaited the judges’ scorecards.

Strickland had landed 133 significant strikes to Chimaev’s 98, but the champion was successful with 9 of his 13 takedowns over the 25-minute fight.

After five rounds, one judge scored the contest 48-47 in favour of Chimaev, but the other two ruled it 48-47 and 48-47 to hand Strickland a split decision victory.

Elsewhere on the 13-fight card in Newark, New Jersey, the second-youngest UFC champion in history, Joshua Van, defended his flyweight title against Japan’s Tatsuro Taira in the co-main event.

Van was forced to overcome early adversity on the canvas against Taira, but outclassed his opponent on the feet as time ticked on, eventually getting the stoppage in round five.

Meanwhile, rising middleweight prospect Ateba Gautier returned to the knockout winning column by emphatically stopping Ozzy Diaz, and King Green, Sean Brady and Alexander Volkov all secured victories on the main card.

UFC Schedule

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