UFC 335 has officially been announced for December 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada and will be headlined by a BMF title fight between Charles Oliveira and Diego Lopes. As exciting as that matchup is, it may have been the backup as negotiations for a middleweight title fight fell through.
Sources told MMA Mania that a 185 pound title fight between Sean Strickland and Nassourdine Imavov was discussed extensively for the last major UFC event of 2026, set at the T-Mobile Arena. But talks broke down in the end,
leading UFC to pull out the BMF belt to headline the card.
“Sean Strickland was available and ready to go for UFC 335,” MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin wrote on X (formerly Twitter). ” He had zero injuries from the crash — the UFC went in a different direction, per sources.”
That crash was a 60 m.p.h. side-by-side ATV rollover from last week that Strickland says bounced his head off the ground. “Tarzan” managed to walk away with no injuries but couldn’t leave UFC negotiations unscathed.
The middleweight champion shared on social media that a fight with Imavov was in the works, with the final piece being money. Strickland undoubtedly made the biggest paycheck of his career when he fought Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328. Imavov is a much smaller fight, but would Sean accept smaller pay for his first title defense?
“It’s not about injury, he is asking for more money to fight Imavov,” a commenter on Instagram wrote. “Bingo,” Strickland replied underneath.
