“I don’t want to kill a man…”

Next May 9, Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev will star in one of the most controversial and anticipated confrontations of the year in the main event of UFC 328. After becoming middleweight champion In August 2025 against Dricus Du Plessis, the Chechen fighter will make his first defense belt against one of the most controversial fighters in the entire UFC, and the threats They have not stopped between the two for several days.

In fact, his own Dana White -head of the UFC- stated as soon as the fight was announced that he did not know how much security he will need for this fight. On the one hand there is Chimaev, who has actively and passively demonstrated that he does not marry anyone and is prepared for conflict both outside and inside the octagon.

As if that were not enough, in front of him he has a fighter who has unleashed authentic barbarities by mouth like Strickland is, which can be a time bomb considering that one is an American patriot and the other one of the best friends of Ramzan Kadyrov -leader of the Chechen Republic-. This union may result in one of the most press conferences cancelable of the story during the week of the event.

On the street, if he dies, he dies, but inside the cage it’s just sport

Khamzat Chimaev, to Strickland

At the moment both have already been heating up the confrontation, and Chimaev has decided to send a serious warning to Strickland in an interview with Adam Zubayraev. “I don’t want to kill a man. They wouldn’t let me kill him there anyway. On the street, if he dies, he dies, but inside the cage it’s just sport“he stated.

Strickland responds to Chimaev

In fact, in that same interview, Zubayraev asked Chimaev what would happen if both teams crossed paths before the fight, and ‘Borz’ said that “he doesn’t have a teamhe only has his coach”, something that did not please Strickland and that provoked his immediate response. “Well, I am currently in Newport. Corona del Mar Beach. It’s all gossip. You pretend to be a tough guy,” the American responded in a tweet.

I’m the last guy in America you should threaten

Strickland responds to Chimaev

Later, through a video uploaded to his Instagram, he continued with the topic and sent a warning to Khamzat for what he had said. “I was ten minutes from your gym. You had to know where it was. “Part of me thought you would come… I’m the last guy in America you should threaten,” he concluded.

What makes both fighters so popular is that they are naturaland you can tell when they speak. That is why this fight is so anticipated and there are so many expectations for this clash of styles between the grappling of Chimaev and the striking by Strickland. A priori, ‘The Chechen Wolf’ is the big favorite for this confrontation, but with Sean anything can happen, as was seen against Israel Adesanya when he became UFC champion two and a half years ago.