There is genuine animosity heading into Saturday's UFC 328 main event. Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland have traded real insults for weeks, and the UFC is bringing in extra security to manage the situation before the fighters ever step into the cage at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Chimaev enters as the defending middleweight champion and one of the most dominant forces the promotion has seen in years. In his first four UFC fights, the combined significant strike count was 148 to 1 in his favor. He has beaten three UFC champions in his last three bouts, finishing Robert Whittaker with a face crank that broke teeth before edging Dricus du Plessis. Saturday is his first title defense.
Strickland arrives as a significant underdog at +410, but he has been here before. When he fought Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title, he was priced at approximately +540. He knocked Adesanya down and took the belt. Most recently, Strickland cashed again as an underdog against Anthony Hernandez. His record against the odds makes the number harder to dismiss.
Both men have also trained together in the past, with each claiming to have gotten the better of the other. That history adds another layer to what is already a deeply personal rivalry.
The co-main event puts the men's flyweight title on the line between champion Joshua Van and Japanese contender Tatsuro Taira. Van became the second-youngest champion in UFC history last year when he stopped Alexandre Pantoja after Pantoja suffered an elbow injury during the fight. A win for Taira would make him the first UFC champion from Japan.
The rest of the card is stacked with veteran talent. Heavyweights Alexander Volkov and Waldo Cortes-Acosta meet in a fight with title implications in a crowded division. Sean Brady and Joaquin Buckley square off at welterweight. And in a lightweight bout between two of the longest-tenured fighters in the promotion, King Green faces Jeremy Stephens.
UFC 328 is available Saturday night on Paramount+.
