ESPN staff May 7, 2026, 08:00 AM ET

Khamzat Chimaev goes for his first defense of the UFC middleweight championship when he takes on former titleholder Sean Strickland in the main event at UFC 328 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday.

Chimaev, who beat Dricus du Plessis to claim the belt at UFC 319 last August, is unbeaten in professional MMA and is ESPN's No. 5-ranked pound-for-pound fighter. Each of his past three victories has come over a former UFC champion ( Kamaru Usman , Robert Whittaker and Du Plessis).

Strickland, No. 4 in ESPN's middleweight rankings, enters the fight following a third-round TKO win over Anthony Hernandez in February. This will be his fourth middleweight championship fight.…