The UFC returns to Newark, NJ this Saturday for a stacked UFC 328 card that features two title fights at the top of the bill.
Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland
The main event for UFC 328 will see Khamzat Chimaev return to action to defend his middleweight belt for the first time against the division’s former titleholder Sean Strickland.
“Borz” put on a dominant showing at UFC 319 to claim the belt from Dricus du Plessis, who defeated Strickland in 2024 to win the title and also took a unanimous decision in their rematch at UFC 312, which was the South African’s second (and final) title defense before falling to Chimaev.
Strickland is only one fight removed from that initial failed bid to reclaim his title, but he put on an impressive performance in his last outing when he stopped Anthony Hernandez with strikes and ended the surging contender’s eight-fight win streak.
Khamzat Chimaev reacts to the retirement of his former UFC opponent
Joshua Van vs. Tatsuro Taira
The card’s second title offering was originally slated for UFC 327, but Joshua Van will now open his flyweight title reign in New Jersey after an injury delayed his meeting with Tatsuro Taira.
Van finds himself in an interesting position at UFC 328, as it was a 26-second injury TKO last December that saw him unseat long-reigning flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja. That result technically extended his winning run to six fights, but he finds himself lined as an underdog in his first title defense.
Taira stormed into the UFC in 2022 and won his first six fights before dropping a split decision to Brandon Royval, but he rebounded last year with stoppage-victories against Hyun Sung Park and two-time flyweight titleholder Brandon Moreno.
Heavyweight title eliminator fight?
The UFC 328 main card also includes a pivotal heavyweight clash between top-ranked contenders Alexander Volkov and Waldo Cortes-Acosta.
With Tom Aspinall still sidelined for the immediate future, the UFC elected to put together an interim heavyweight title fight between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane that features as the co-main event for next month’s “UFC Freedom 250” at The White House.
The winner of that fight will be set up for a title unification bout with Aspinall, but Volkov vs. Cortes-Acosta will likely decide who is next in line to fight for heavyweight gold after that. Volkov rebounded from a controversial loss to Gane with a somewhat-underwhelming win over Jailton Almeida last October, while Cortes-Acosta is riding the momentum of three-straight wins via knockout.
Jim Miller continues making UFC history
The UFC’s all-time leader in fights and wins returns at UFC 328 to take on lightweight veteran Jared Gordon.
Miller came up short in his last outing against Chase Hooper at UFC 314, but his last three victories have all come via finish. Gordon enters the matchup after alternating wins and losses through his last few bouts, and he knocked out Thiago Moises last year before he was stopped by Rafa Garcia in his most recent fight in September.
The rise of Ateba Gautier and Baisangur Susurkaev
UFC 328 is an increasingly-rare UFC card that features no fighters making their promotional debuts, but Ateba Gautier and Baisangur Susurkaev will both try and keep building on the considerable hype surrounding their respective careers.
Ateba Gautier spoke with Fighters Weekly ahead of UFC 328
Set to meet Djorden Santos as part of the early prelims for UFC 328, Susurkaev will step into the Octagon for the fourth time in less than a year. “Hunter” earned a UFC contract with a first-round finish of Murtaza Talha on Dana White’s Contender Series last August, and he also stopped Eric Nolan and Eric McConico in his first two UFC outings.
Also a veteran of Dana White’s Contender Series, Gautier has gone 4-0 to start his own UFC career and knocked out three of those opponents inside the first round. The 24-year-old gets some added spotlight when he takes on Ozzy Diaz in the featured prelim for UFC 328, immediately before the start of the five-fight main card.
The prelims for UFC 328 also include some other fantastic matchups like Joel Alvarez vs. Yaroslav Amosov and Roman Kopylov vs. Marco Tulio, and the main card action will kick off with a lightweight clash between King Green and Jeremy Stephens that’s sure to grab the attention of longtime MMA fans.
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- Khamzat Chimaev gives brutal reaction to Gilbert Burns’ retirement
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