Khamzat Chimaev dismisses Sean Strickland gun threats at UFC 328

Middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev brushed off Sean Strickland’s escalating threats ahead of their title fight at UFC 328 in Newark on Saturday, saying the former champ would already be dead if he truly wanted a war outside the cage.

Strickland recently posted on social media that he plans to carry a gun to fighter hotel appearances and would confront Chimaev in the lobby if he detects unequal treatment between camps, per Sherdog. The outburst came after UFC CEO Dana White announced increased security measures and no face-offs to prevent the rivals from clashing before fight night. But Chimaev told reporters at a pre-fight scrum that Strickland is all talk. “Clowns always talk,” he said, as reported by MMA Fighting. “He didn’t shoot any chickens in the world, how’s he going to shoot a human?”

Chimaev shrugs off sparring claims, calls Newark home turf

The Chechen-born fighter pointed to Newark’s large Muslim population as his territory and suggested Strickland would be foolish to follow through on his threats there. “In New Jersey, this is a Muslim community, it’s my home,” Chimaev said. “I don’t think so that he’s going to come with the guns there. Otherwise, it will be a lot of people injured because he’s there.” Chimaev also dismissed Strickland’s repeated claims that he dominated the champion during past training sessions at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, noting he was cutting to welterweight at the time. “He never had success with me,” Chimaev said. “I was fighting at 170 at that time. Right now, people know how big I am. How hungry I am.”

According to MMA Fighting, Chimaev said he welcomes Strickland’s trash talk because it makes his job easier and he finds the American’s rhetoric funny. Strickland wrote on X that he will not be controlled by what he called a “third world dog” and warned the UFC against limiting his movements during fight week. The former champion hinted he expects to be under heavy scrutiny all week and accused Chimaev of making threats despite being allowed in the country.

UFC 328 takes place Saturday at Prudential Center. The press conference is set for Thursday, where Strickland will have his best chance to test Chimaev’s patience in person.

Original reporting:

• mmafighting.com — Khamzat Chimaev scoffs at Sean Strickland’s threats ahead of UFC 328: ‘If he wanted [a real war], he would be dead already’ | MMA Fighting
• sherdog.com — Sean Strickland threatens to confront Khamzat Chimaev in UFC 328 fighter hotel lobby