UFC 328: Why the bad blood between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland is real -- and personal

Chimaev and Strickland are itching to get their hands on each other this weekend, to the point where Chimaev is waiting in the hotel lobby for him

MORRISTOWN, N.J. -- Stepping foot inside the fighter hotel, just a few days removed from Saturday's UFC 328 event in Newark, New Jersey, it's difficult not to notice the tangible amounts of tension lingering in the air. 

Khamzat Chimaev (15-0), the pound-for-pound ranked destroyer, will make the first defense of his middleweight title against former champion and sworn enemy Sean Strickland (30-7) inside the Prudential Center to culminate a bitter feud that began back in 2022 when Chimaev, a sublime grappler from Russia's Chechen Republic, visited Strickland's gym to train. 

From that point forward, as stories regarding what took place began to leak, the idea that these two 185-pound elites would someday fight one another felt inevitable.   

"It would've happened no matter what," Strickland told CBS Sports. "Either in a f---ing parking lot with 15 of his friends while he is hiding in the bathroom or in the a f---ing Octagon."

If the intensity felt the moment you stepped foot inside the hotel, where Chimaev spent a majority of his time posted up by the door, wasn't an indication that something big has been brewing ahead of this weekend, the overwhelming amount of security guards and local police officers on hand felt like something almost unique unto itself. 

Even though the sheer intensity of the Chimaev-Strickland beef has been compared to memorable blood feuds in UFC history like Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier, Khabib Nurmagomedov-Conor McGregor and Kamaru Usman-Colby Covington, this was likely the first time any UFC fighter has had upwards of four police officers form a human shield around them as they went from interview to interview, with a strict media scheduled designed, in terms of timing, to prevent them from ever crossing paths.

UFC 328: Hatred between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland among five biggest storylines to follow in Newark Brian Campbell

Then again, very few feuds in UFC history have included Strickland, the 35-year-old native of California who fights out of Las Vegas, openly threatening in recent weeks that he will shoot Chimaev and his team dead should they approach him at all during fight week. 

"No, [the added security] doesn't make sense when you let a f---ing neanderthal come into this country who can't keep his shit together for five days," Strickland said about Chimaev. "And the worst part about it is, you're not even being a man and saying you are willing to fight in the parking lot. You say that your friends are willing. So, security is here, dude, because you are the scum of the Earth.

"It reminds me that I'm fighting a man who has zero f---ing dignity."

Chimaev, 32, was a man of far fewer words on Tuesday than his brash counterpart yet it was clear that security wasn't a topic he was necessarily focusing on. 

"I don't think much about security. There is always security around me," Chimaev told CBS Sports. "No, [it isn't necessary]. If we see each other, we will see each other. If we don't, we will see each other in the cage."

Moments earlier, however, during a scrum with media members, Chimaev was a bit more enthused as he even flashed a smile when asked about what might happen if the two should run into one another. 

"I don't think it's possible [for anything] to happen because they won't let me see this guy," Chimaev said. "I don't know, where is he? I have been here [for] three days in the lobby. That guy said he's going to shoot me so, let's go. Do that. I will be happy to die." 

Chimaev, who now fights out of Dubai after coming of age as a fighter while living in Sweden, initially crossed paths with Strickland at Extreme Couture in Las Vegas when the fighter known as "Borz" (which translates to "Chechen wolf") was a welterweight and looking to round out his skills by putting in time at multiple elite gyms around the globe. And, initially, it appeared the rift between them began when Strickland, who serves as the captain of the gym led by head coach Eric Nicksick, accused Chimaev of bullying inexperienced fighters in sparring.

"Maybe I bullied on one person and it was him," Chimaev said jokingly. "I never bullied people, I just train hard. I don't know what [Strickland] feels or has in mind. For me, it's just a job and making money to beat someone. For me, I don't care. I am going to do my job no matter what people say."

Although Strickland acknowledges that the bullying was a major part of the dislike between them, he refers to an incident over a group chat among fighters who trained at the gym as the root cause. Strickland claimed he had just finished sparring a young fighter from Colorado and sent a joke to the group aimed at the fighter, along with a picture of them grappling, which said, "Oh, I thought you wrestled better for a Chechen." 

"It was a joke because he's a friend," Strickland said. "Chimaev was in the same group chat and sent me a message, pretty much calling me a 'piece of shit.' He told me he was going to f---ing kill me, crazy shit. So, I kicked [teammate and UFC middleweight] Chris Curtis out of the chat because he's always trying to de-escalate shit and I told Chimaev, 'I will meet you at this location at 5 p.m. Be there, you f---ing p----.' 

"The next thing he says is, 'Oh, it was a misunderstanding.' And from that moment, I just knew you're a f---ing coward. I knew you had lack of f---ing dignity. I just knew that you aren't a man, dude."

Adding potentially more fuel to the fire, Chimaev posted a video on Tuesday of one of those 2022 sparring sessions between he and Strickland, with a caption of "I am bullying weak people." The 26-second video, however, which Strickland admitted at Wednesday's media day was just a warm-up round and was filmed without his knowledge or consent, simply showed the two fighters circling around one another as they warmed up.  

I am bullying weak people 😂 pic.twitter.com/dVVM3wTxpg

— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) May 5, 2026

What remains unknown is what role all of this intensity and dislike will play on the result of the fight, which currently features the dominant Chimaev as a 6-to-1 betting favorite. There's certainly an argument to be made that Strickland is making a calculated move to get inside of Chimaev's head in an effort to get him to fight emotionally and brawl instead of systematically relying on his grappling to wear Strickland down. 

Solving that dilemma isn't necessarily easy due to the fact that Chimaev, who typically sports a devilish stare behind his busy black beard, largely keeps his thoughts and emotions to himself. Chimaev also doesn't pretend to care one bit about things like title reigns, maintaining an undefeated record or climbing the pound-for-pound chart.  

"For me, it's just important to beat my opponents. I am here just to make money." Chimaev said. "Why should I care about [other] stuff? I just care about making millions, smashing somebody, being happy and going home. We have been working hard in the gym and we come here and fight someone.

"I hope [Strickland] is going to be healthy, no injuries, so, being ready for when I beat him up, he will have no excuse. I'm thinking what I'm going to do, I'm not thinking about what he is going to do."

After upsetting Israel Adesanya by wide decision to capture the middleweight title in 2023, Strickland suffered his first of two losses against Dricus du Plessis in his first title defense just four months later. Du Plessis would go on to lose the title to Chimaev last August at UFC 319 where he was dominated for all five rounds by Chimaev's pressure, wrestling and ground striking. 

Strickland's takedown defense has been historically strong at 76%, which he credits to a 2017 loss at welterweight to future champion Kamaru Usman.

"[Usman]  just wrestle-f---ed the shit out of me," Strickland said. "I took a quest to then learn how to wrestle. So, once I hit about 25, I really focused on wrestling and I think I have some of the best, not takedown defense, but scramble wrestling in the UFC."

Following the losses to DDP, Strickland redeemed himself in a big way in February when he prevented accomplished wrestler Anthony "Fluffy" Hernandez from taking him down before scoring a third-round TKO win in an upset. Chimaev said this week he instantly made a call to UFC executive Hunter Campbell after the fight to ask for Strickland to be his first title defense. 

When asked if he subscribes to the theory of some that if he can't slow down and/or defeat Chimaev this weekend, there may not currently be another middleweight in the UFC who can, all it did was give Strickland even more ammo for another rant about his opponent's style. 

"If I can't do it, just delete the UFC," Strickland said. "Who wants to watch this guy go dry hump everybody? You don't want to see this shit anymore. You have this no personality, unlikable f---ing dog as a champion.

"It's always nice to hit somebody you don't like. That's always a benefit. I think with Chimaev, we just want to see who is better. I would beat him in the gym sparring him light and he would get mad. So, I would tell him let's spar hard and he would f---ing vanish somewhere. So, I think it comes down to just settling the score."