Khamzat Chimaev has his first title defense booked with a showdown scheduled against former champion Sean Strickland in the main event for UFC 328, which takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on May 9.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the matchup on Thursday.
Chimaev returns to action for the first time since capturing the middleweight title with a lopsided decision win over Dricus du Plessis this past August. Now 15-0 in his career, Chimaev has been a wrecking machine since arriving in the UFC
while racking up wins against Robert Whittaker, Gilbert Burns, and Kamaru Usman along the way.
After previously competing at both middleweight and welterweight, Chimaev settled into the 185-pound division and obviously made the most of his opportunity by capturing the title in 2025.
Now he faces Strickland in his first title defense after the always talkative middleweight demolished Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez in his most recent outing.
Recognized as one of the most polarizing fighters on the entire UFC roster, Strickland suffered a pair of losses to du Plessis in title fights but got right back on track with his impressive performance against Hernandez in February.
Immediately afterwards, Strickland called for the title fight against Chimaev, and he’s getting his wish with the middleweights battling for the belt in May.
Also on the card, heavyweight contenders Alexander Volkov and Waldo Cortes-Acosta are locking horns in the co-main event. Currently ranked No. 2 in the heavyweight division, Volkov is coming off a split decision win over Jailton Almeida at UFC 321. Cortes-Acosta, meanwhile, is ranked No. 4 and riding a three-fight winning streak, most recently finishing Derrick Lewis in the second round at UFC 324 in January.
Also on the card, Sean Brady takes on Joaquin Buckley in a welterweight contest, former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz runs things back with Bogdan Guskov after their battle 323 ended in a majority draw, and King Green takes on veteran lightweight Jeremy Stephens in the main card opener.
