Dana White Announces Khamzat Chimaev's Opponent At UFC 328

Khamzat Chimaev will defend the Middleweight Championship against Sean Strickland at UFC 328 in May. 

Chimaev has been a picture of dominance since joining UFC in 2020, beating the likes of Kamaru Usman and Robert Whittaker before dethroning Dricus Du Plessis in August last year. Du Plessis had made a point only recently that he thought he could have beaten Chimaev if and when they meet again. 

But it's Strickland, fresh off a dominant victory over Anthony Hernandez in February, who will be getting the first shot at Chimaev's reign, a reign with the title he won from Israel Adesanya in 2023 and dropped to Du Plessis in 2024. 

The undercard on May 9 will see Ateba Gautier fighting Ozzy Diaz at middleweight, Jan Blachowicz against Bogdan Guskov at light heavyweight, Sean Brady against Joaquin Buckley at welterweight, and Alexander Volkov versus Waldo Cortes Acosta at heavyweight. 

The announcement of UFC 328 came alongside several other main events announced leading up to the White House event in June. 

Aljamain Sterling and Youssef Zalal will headline the April 25 Fight Night card in Las Vegas, Beneil Dariush and Quillan Salkilld headline May 2 in Perth, Australia, Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa then headline the May 16 event heading back to Vegas, and Song Yadong will headline UFC Fight Night in Macau against Deiveson Figuieredo on May 30. Rounding it all up, Belal Muhammad will face Gabriel Bonfim in Vegas on June 6.