People love their underdogs, and UFC 328 presented a rare feat where the two fighters pegged as the underdogs in their title fights walked out with the gold. Joshua Van being the underdog and getting the fifth-round finish is one thing, but Sean Strickland presents such a unique other case.
Despite coming in as the overwhelming underdog, with many sportsbooks expecting defending champion Khamzat Chimaev to submit him, Strickland went tit-for-tat with Chimaev, battling a grueling 25 minutes. But Strickland’s performance was enough, as the split decision went in his favor, making him the new UFC middleweight champion and ending the undefeated run of Chimaev.
A lot of people (this writer included, admittedly) gave no shot for Strickland to win this fight. And when you consider how no one had been able to figure out Chimaev up to this point, it isn’t hard to see why. But Strickland has been in this situation once before.
At UFC 293, Strickland challenged then-champion Israel Adesanya. Though many had expected Dricus Du Plessis to get the next title shot, the UFC booked Adesanya to headline the Australia-based pay-per-view. But any hopes for Adesanya vs. DDP went up in smoke at the time, as Strickland displayed strong defense and pressure, taking a unanimous decision and the UFC middleweight title.
The thing is, after the first five minutes of the UFC 328 main event, it looked like it was going to go the one-sided route in Chimaev’s favor. Chimaev took Strickland down in the fight’s opening minute and completely controlled the action from there.
But then, Strickland was ready in round two. Strickland got his striking going, trying to pressure Chimaev and not give him a chance to get into the action. Strickland ended up stuffing two takedown attempts and landing quite a few good shots on the ground when Chimaev didn’t get up the second time.
That’s when Chimaev, for the first time since facing Gilbert Burns in 2023, elected not to go for a takedown in round three. Instead, he went toe-to-toe with Strickland on the feet, and Strickland continued to get the better of him. Chimaev, however, picked his volume back up in the fourth round, tying things up two rounds apiece going into the final round.
Round five could have fallen either way – Strickland was doing more work, thanks to his jab, but he was constantly on the back foot. Chimaev continued to press, looking for and landing a pair of takedowns – albeit not doing as much as Strickland’s strikes.
Ultimately, two judges gave the fight round to Strickland, making him a two-time middleweight champion and giving him a second major upset in UFC title fights he’s been involved in.
It will be interesting to see where the middleweight division goes from here now. A rematch between Strickland and Chimaev should be solid; however, it seems like Chimaev might make a move up to 205 next.
Du Plessis is now back in the title picture – he hasn’t fought since dropping the belt to Chimaev, but he holds two middleweight title fight victories over Strickland. Nassourdine Imavov was also ranked No. 2 heading into the fight, and he’s gunning for his first crack at UFC gold.
Whatever happens next, one thing is for certain: Either Strickland is never a longshot underdog again, or he can be considered the Ultimate Underdog of the UFC.
