UFC 328 Results: Sean Strickland regains middleweight title, hands Khamzat Chimaev first loss

May 10, 2026 John Pollock NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: UFC

Sean Strickland is the new UFC middleweight champion, regaining the belt and handing Khamzat Chimaev his first loss.

The former champion entered as a sizable underdog against the unbeaten Chimaev, who had a massive weight cut throughout his camp.

The fight was extremely close and became a battle of each man’s effectiveness with their jabs, as most of the fight remained on the feet. Chimaev secured nine takedowns throughout the fight, but it was only during the first round that it was a major difference maker.

Strickland landed 160 strikes of 355 thrown compared to Chimaev’s 137 of 283, per UFC Stats. Both men were bloodied from the barrage of strikes, and Strickland surmised he may have broken his nose.

The third round may have been the toughest to score as Strickland landed more than the champion, but Chimaev appeared to score the more effective strikes and did the most damage to Strickland’s nose in the round. In the end, the three judges all sided with Strickland in that frame.

After twenty-five minutes, Strickland secured the split decision victory with two 48-47 scores going his way, while judge Sue Sanidad was the lone dissenter to have Chimaev winning by the same score.

The judges only differed on the fifth round while collectively seeing Strickland winning the second and third rounds, and Chimaev as the superior fighter in rounds one and four.

Media scores were divided, with eleven members scoring the fight for Strickland and thirteen for Chimaev.

It’s a major achievement for Strickland to work his way back to the 185-pound championship. He surprised many by upsetting Israel Adesanya to become champion for the first time in September 2023, but lost the belt in his first defense to Dricus du Plessis four months later at UFC 297. He lost a rematch to du Plessis last February, but after stopping Anthony Hernandez earlier this year, he earned the title fight with Chimaev to join Adesanya as the only men to hold the middleweight title two times.

Like most Strickland fights, the rhetoric in the promotional build was supercharged and tasteless, with comments and threats escalating to a physical altercation between the two at the press conference. Strickland apologized for “going too hard” with his comments after the win, stating he was trying to “sell the fight” and thanked his fans regardless of ethnicity or religion.

The Fight of the Night was reserved for an explosive flyweight contest between Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira, which was electric for nearly twenty-five minutes.

Taira was 18-1 coming into the fight, having never been stopped, and was the favorite among oddsmakers. The first round saw his explosive takedown ability on display, using his speed and power to engage and achieve mount upon taking Van to the mat.

Van turned things around in the second, using his superior boxing after forfeiting most of the second round. He landed a massive right hook to drop the challenger and take the round in the final seconds. He rode that momentum into the third round with significant jabs and swarming Taira with his varied strikes.

Taira was exceptionally game and withstood a litany of punishment, turning this fight into “classic” territory by the fourth round. After a takedown, Taira spun the champion around into a Triangle but lost control, allowing Van to get to his feet to tee off.

Van attacked the body in the fifth, and after multiple kicks and punches to the target, Taira lost balance, and referee Vitor Ribeiro waved it off, angering Taira, as Van made his first defense of the title.

During the post-fight, they focused on former champion Alexandre Pantoja in the crowd, who injured his arm and lost the belt to Van last December, to indicate that would be the next fight for Van.

Alexander Volkov won his second fight in a row, earning a decision against Waldo Cortez-Acosta over three rounds. Volkov has won six of his last seven fights, while Cortez-Acosta completed his sixth fight within twelve months.

Sean Brady was completely dominant in his decision win against Joaquin Buckley. Brady only needed four takedowns throughout the fight to generate 12:09 of control time and land 245 of 416 strikes, mainly on the ground. It revives Brady’s title hopes after a stoppage loss to Michael Morales last November at UFC 322.

The main card opened with a pair of veterans as King Green submitted Jeremy Stephens in the first round. Green used his game plan of chirping his opponent while his hands were down to draw Stephens in and began landing with left hands before taking Stephens down. Green took the back and locked in a rear-naked choke.

In his 47th fight in the promotion, Jim Miller added to his record with his 28th win inside the Octagon by submitting Jared Gordon in the first round with a guillotine choke.

There were also announcements that Chris Weidman will be inducted into the Modern Wing of the UFC Hall of Fame this July, and the late writer Tom Gerbasi will be added as a Contributor.

Results:

  • UFC Middleweight Championship: Sean Strickland def. Khamzat Chimaev by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
  • UFC Flyweight Championship: Joshua Van def. Tatsuro Taira by TKO at 1:32 of Round 5
  • Alexander Volkov def. Waldo Cortes-Acosta by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
  • Sean Brady def. Joaquin Buckley by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-27)
  • King Green def. Jeremy Stephens by rear-naked choke at 4:20 of Round 1
  • Ateba Gautier def. Osman Diaz by TKO at 1:10 of Round 2
  • Yaroslav Amosov def. Joel Álvarez by arm-triangle choke at 1:13 of Round 2
  • Grant Dawson def. Mateusz Rębecki by rear-naked choke at 4:42 of Round 3
  • Jim Miller def. Jared Gordon by guillotine choke at 3:29 of Round 1
  • Roman Kopylov def. Marco Tulio by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
  • Pat Sabatini def. William Gomis by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
  • Baisangur Susurkaev def. Djorden Santos by technical submission due to a rear-naked choke at 4:12 of Round 3
  • José Ochoa def. Clayton Carpenter by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
About John Pollock 7167 Articles
Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.
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