UFC 328

Amidst the online chatter about the pay cuts that the WWE talent are being asked to take, some in the 50% range of their previous contracts, TKO has a stacked weekend. While Backlash will be in Tampa with a 6 PM start time, the octagon will be further up the east coast in Newark, New Jersey for the UFC 328 pay-per-view. One of the few perks for consumers with the WWE and UFC being under the same banner is that hopefully the start time is by design to get Backlash finished up within three hours to allow viewers to switch over to Paramount+ for the MMA card. That would be refreshing after almost an hour and a half worth of commercials over the two nights of Wrestlemania. 

The MMA event will be headlined by a Middleweight title clash between the defending champion,  Khamzat Chimaev and the challenger, Sean Strickland.

In truth, this match-up has more to do with Strickland being a controversial figure in the sport than the justification of a title shot. Quite frankly, he's known more for the outlandish things he says outside of the octagon than his record as a fighter. In September of 2023, as a 5-to-1 underdog on most sports books, Strickland dethroned Israel Adesanya for the 185 LBS belt with the upset of the unanimous decision on the score cards. That was the start of a four-fight losing streak that Adesanya is currently on, with a TKO loss in the second round to Joe Pyfer in March. While the victory for Strickland was surprising, his reign as champion was short-lived when he dropped the belt to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297. He rebounded with a decision win over Paulo Costa in June of 2024 before he lost a rematch against Dricus du Plessis for the belt in February of last year. Strickland was away from the cage for a year before he beat Anthony Hernandez via second round TKO a few months ago.

Strickland only has one victory since he lost the rematch for the title, does that truly justify another title shot, particularly when he failed to successful defend the belt before that?

I don't think so, but this is another example of how the fight business is still the entertainment business, even in the "entertainment value," or lack thereof is in poor taste.

Strickland, for all intents and purposes, is a guy that is a reflection of his pro record, which isn't always the case, but it's fairly accurate here. With a record of 30-7, and 24-7 of that being in the UFC, he's a solid fighter that is in the upper mid card as someone that is going to beat the average fighter, but won't truly crack into the top-tier of the division. Yes, he defeated Adesanya, but couldn't successfully defend the belt or recapture it when he had a rematch. Besides Dricus du Plessis, he lost to Alex Pereira and Kamaru Usman. Don't get me wrong, Strickland isn't a tomato can, but it's not as though he has an established legacy that would justify him a title shot on merit alone. So far, Strickland has had a 12-year UFC career and is still relatively young with at least a few more years of competition ahead of him, but again, none of what he did previously would make it a logic jump for him to compete for the title for a third time after only one victory to rebound from a prior loss.

Again, Strickland is a solid fighter, but he's known for his comments outside of the cage more than anything else. He took the Chael Sonnen approach to hyping himself up with over-the-top claims, but the difference is that everyone knew that Chael's clown routine was nothing more than an act to generate interest, whereas Strickland's comments go beyond trolling to the point that you have to wonder about head trauma in the sport.

Strickland made several homophobic and misogynistic remarks. He used homophobic slurs, and implied a racist remark when Bad Bunny was the headliner of this year's Super Bowl halftime show. He dismissed the upcoming Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano bout on Netflix with derogatory comments about women's MMA, despite the fact that Rousey was one of the company's biggest pay-per-view draws during her peak in popularity. When asked about Strickland's comments, Dana White cited free speech, which isn't surprising when you consider that he's throwing a birthday party for Trump with an event at the White House in June. Trump has been accused on making similar comments in the past as well, but even Strickland has scaled back his support of Trump with criticism of Israel based on the ongoing conflict in Iran.

So, maybe Strickland's ignorance spans across the spectrum.

As much of a doofus as Strickland is, and as unfortunate as it is, there's an entire demographic, particularly within the usual target audience of the UFC, that align with Strickland's dismal ideology. There's an entire "bro culture" that assume spewing the same nonsense as Strickland makes them "edgy," while they assume that they obtain some type of groundbreaking knowledge listening to Joe Rogan's podcast. In reality, these dorks with the horrendous Jake Paul hair cuts would fold like a house of cards if there were actually confronted, but ignorance is bliss.

It's a sad statement about society, but someone like Strickland, specifically because of his fecal-level rhetoric, will sell tickets for the UFC. It will be the same reason that the crowd in Newark will chant "USA!" not because of any level of patriotism, but rather in spite of  Khamzat Chimaev being from another country.

In short, someone like Strickland fighting a Russian muslim will move the needle, both for those that will mindlessly chant for Strickland, and others that want to see him choked out. It's extremely disappointing, but Strickland's thinly-veiled bigotry is more or less the selling point for the pay-per-view.

As far as the fight itself, Chimaev made a name for himself during the pandemic era when he fought several times in a short span, racking up wins at a quick pace. Bringing an undefeated record of 15-0 into UFC 328, Chimaev unseated the previously mentioned Dricus du Plessis for the Middleweight championship via unanimous decision in August of last year. Before that, he had victories over Kamaru Usman, Kevin Holland, and Gilbert Burns. Besides being undefeated, Chimaev has a mixed of wins via strikes, submissions, and decisions so he has a well-rounded skill set. More specifically, he proved in his last fight that he can go the distance if the bout reaches the championship rounds. The champion has an extensive freestyle wrestling background, as well as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Taking into account that Strickland also has a wrestling background and is known for his striking defense, I'd expect this bout to be a grappling contest, at least in the early rounds.

Because of that, I have to pick Khamzat Chimaev to retain the championship. The bottom line is, nobody has been able to figure out the formula to defeat him, and as mentioned, Strickland's losses have been against the top level competition. I think it's fair to say that Chimaev has done enough to prove that he's in that category. Furthermore, five of the seven losses of Strickland's career were via decision, and taking into account the shared grappling background, I'd guess that this one will stretch into the championship rounds, with the advantage going to the champion. Strickland has proven himself to be durable, but I'd guess that over the course of 25 minutes, Chimaev will be able to get the decision on the score cards.