Vitriolic insults from Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev aside, the UFC 328 pre-fight press conference was actually going along relatively smoothly, all things considered… until it wasn’t.
Tensions finally boiled over Thursday evening at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., the same location at which the anticipated UFC middleweight championship grudge match will headline Saturday night’s pay-per-view event.
With multiple teams of both UFC security guards and New Jersey police officers lining the stage, Strickland and Chimaev began levying insults and threats, all while rarely going a full sentence without cursing.
A few years ago, the pair spent some brief time training together at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas, but their personalities clashed and suffice it to say, it was determined they would not be ideal sparring partners in the future.
“I would beat him up every day. … He’s never going to beat me,” Chimaev said Thursday of his past training sessions with Strickland. “I’ve submitted him many times. He knows about it. The guys (in the gym) know about it. He’s not happy, that’s why he’s stressed.”
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Khamzat Chimaev puts his middleweight title on the line against former champion Sean Strickland. Watch UFC 328 on Saturday, May 9 with prelim coverage beginning 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, and pay-per-view main card starting at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
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Strickland has never been submitted in his mixed martial arts career and is a former champion in the 185-pound division. His past two title fight appearances didn’t go his way, though, as he lost two five-round decisions to Dricus Du Plessis in 2024 and 2025.
Chimaev became champion last August when he used dominant positional control to beat Du Plessis via five-round unanimous decision. Strickland said he isn’t worried about Chimaev pinning him to the mat the way Chimaev did to Du Plessis.
“You can try to dry hump me all you want,” Strickland said. “(The fans) don’t want to watch a boring ass (expletive) fight. I want you to wrestle. I will out-wrestle you. I’ll out-wrestle you any day of the week.”
In recent months, each has made public comments criticizing the other, and the tension has only continued to increase since the UFC 328 main event was officially announced.
Chimaev repeatedly referenced Strickland’s troubled childhood.
Strickland would insult Chimaev’s character and call out some controversial political connections Chimaev keeps. The American also made a few culturally insensitive remarks during the press conference.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be a (expletive) man. … He’s a bully. He’s always been a bully,” Strickland said, to which Chimaev responded, “I’m gonna bully you in the cage.”
Nearly ignored entirely on Thursday, save for a pair of standard pre-fight questions, were co-main event participants Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira. The dynamic 125-pounders were also on stage taking in the atmosphere.
Van is about to attempt the first defence of his men’s flyweight title that he won in December when former longtime champ Alexandre Pantoja sustained an injury early in the fight.
In the Octagon on Saturday night, Van and Taira have the potential to steal the show and put on the Fight of the Night, but on Thursday, they were simply spectators to the Chimaev-Strickland show like everyone else.
“Bro, this shit is crazy,” Van said with a chuckle. “I’m enjoying every single moment right here. … Now it’s time to show what kind of champion I am.”
Taira, who can become Japan’s first UFC champion, said to Van in broken English: “Your last fight was too short, so we have to show who the real champion is.”
Extra security was not needed when it was time for Van, 24, and Taira, 26, to square off. The young pros did so with a smile and zero animus.
The same could not be said for the main event rivals.
UFC president Dana White was situated in the middle of the stage, and early on, was asked if there would be the usual face-off at the conclusion of the press conference that had hundreds of boisterous fans in attendance.
White said “absolutely” then made a joke and rhetorically asked, “Why wouldn’t we have a face-off?”
Once all the questions were done, the podium was removed from the stage and, following Van and Taira’s stare-down, it was time for the main event photo op.
With droves of security draped over both fighters and police nearby, White could be heard saying: “Be good guys. Be good. Let’s see if we can get a good (face-off) here.”
The pair stepped closer, and mere seconds after Chimaev said, “I'm not gonna touch him,” Chimaev aggressively landed a hard oblique kick to one of Strickland’s legs.
Security immediately removed both athletes from the stage before Strickland could respond.
When asked where this rivalry ranks in the history of the UFC’s most heated and personal feuds, White said with no hesitation, “Top three all time.”
White didn’t specify which two rivalries might top this one, but presumably he was referring to the one between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov that spilled into out-of-cage chaos on multiple occasions, and the one between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier that included a hotel lobby brawl and a never-ending stream of spiteful comments.
Both of those rivalries, which also featured exclusively championship-calibre fighters, spanned multiple years, while the one UFC 328 is built around is a bit newer. Who’s to say how long Strickland and Chimaev might hold a grudge against each other?
“This one’s pretty heated,” White added. “It is what it is.”
Sometimes, combat sports are a beautiful expression of athleticism, discipline and respect. Sometimes, combat sports devolve into a more primal and emotional confrontation.
The UFC 328 main event build-up certainly feels like more of the latter.
