Sean Strickland won the UFC middleweight championship for the second time in his career, defeating Khamzat Chimaev by split decision at UFC 328 on Saturday night.
Strickland won two scorecards at 48-47 and Chimaev won the other at 48-47 in front of a crowd of 17,783 fans at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
This was Chimaev’s first professional loss in 16 fights.
American Strickland, the second former middleweight to regain the title, mimed putting a belt around his waist after five rounds to end a fight in which neither fighter appeared to be in serious danger. When Chimaev had the honors done for him in the cage, he got some help with a shiny new fashion accessory.
It was exhausting. It never rose to the level of accumulation of bad character.
The fighters pounded the gloves to begin the fight and the pre-combat hostility never trickled into the cage.
Strickland, 35, won the 185-pound belt for the first time in September 2023, losing to Driques du Plessis in his first title defense the following January.
