As Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland prepared to go face-to-face Thursday at a UFC 328 press conference, Dane White implored them to “be good, guys.” The UFC CEO probably shouldn’t be surprised about what happened next.
The current and former UFC middleweight champions were indeed brought face-to-face, with multiple people holding them back as they lobbied words back and forth. Among the things heard: “I’m not going to touch you,” from Chimaev, and “You ain’t going to do s***,” from Strickland.
Chimaev then landed a kick to Strickland’s lower body. It’s unclear where exactly the kick made contact, but Strickland fell back and chaos broke loose as the two men were wrestled away from each other.
Strickland, who could be heard yelling, “You b****, you coward!” later took to social media to share his opinion.
All of that was the culmination of a highly contentious press conference, in which Chimaev and Strickland were seated as far from each other as possible with multiple security officers on stage.
Both men repeatedly traded insults, as they’ve done throughout the pre-fight process. The scene was heated enough that White was asked if he would actually allow them to go face-to-face, to which White said, “Absolutely,” then later added, “According to my therapist, I’m a sociopath. Why would I not have a face-off?”
Warning: graphic language.
UFC 328 is scheduled for Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The undefeated Chimaev is a -550 favorite to retain the middleweight belt, which he won from Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 last August in the main event. The Strickland fight will be his first title defense.
