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UFC 328 goes on without Trump, Van defends 125-pound crown, Strickland wins middleweight title - AP News
From Associated Press via USVI News: Sean Strickland regains the UFC’s 185-pound championship, defeating Khamzat Chimaev via split decision at UFC 328. The fight, held Saturday night, was marked by intense pre-fight trash talk but remained professional in the cage. Strickland, who previously lost.
UFC 328 goes on without Trump, Van defends 125-pound crown, Strickland wins middleweight title
Sean Strickland, UFC middleweight champion, arrives on stage to face off with Dricus Du Plessis during a mixed martial arts news conference ahead of UFC 297 in Toronto, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, FIle)
Jim Miller reacts after defeating Damon Jackson in a UFC 309 mixed martial arts lightweight title bout, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)
Khamzat Chimaev of the United Arab Emirates, celebrates after he beats Kamaru Usman of Nigeria, in the UFC middleweight championship fight at the Ethihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
President Donald Trump meets with UFC fighters, Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Sean Strickland won UFC’s 185-pound championship for the second time in his career on Saturday night, defeating Khamzat Chimaev via split decision in a bout that never rose to the level of vitriol and threats of violence outside the cage both fighters engaged in ahead of the main event of UFC 328.
Strickland won two scorecards 48-47 while Chimaev took the other scorecard at 48-47 in front of a crowd of 17,783 fans at the Prudential Center.
Strickland, the second former middleweight to regain the title, mimed putting the belt around his waist after the fifth round ended to wrap a fight where neither fighter ever seemed in serious danger. He had help with his shiny new fashion accessory when Chimaev did the honors for him inside the cage.
“I should be a better (expletive) example when I try to sell these fights for you,” fans, Strickland said.
UFC beefed up security at hotels, public events and around the cage for this one following one of the more loathsome displays — specifically, Strickland — of trash talk in recent fight history. Strickland threatened to shoot Chimaev and labeled him a terrorist because of his ties to Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.
Chimaev, who lost for the first time in 16 pro fights, is of Chechen ethnicity and fights under the United Arab Emirates banner, had countered by saying he would “take off” Strickland’s head.
UFC CEO Dana White — who expressed confidence Conor McGregor would return to fight this summer — said Chimaev told him after the fight he wanted to move up in weight class.
The fighters tapped gloves to start the fight to prove they were professionals and the prefight hostilities never spilled over into the cage.
The 35-year-old Strickland, who won the 185-pound belt in September 2023 and lost it in his first title defense, apologized after the fight to fans of all ethnicities and acknowledged he “went too (damn) hard” in weaponizing stereotypes to sell the fight.
“I respect all you guys,” Strickland said, rattling off Christians, Muslims, and also races.
Van retains flyweight title in co-main event
Joshua Van mauled Tatsuro Taira into a bloody mess in the co-main and successfully defended his 125-pound championship in the first title fight in company history contested between two Asian fighters.
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