Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland turned the UFC 328 pre-fight press conference into a prolonged, hostile showdown that ended with Chimaev kicking Strickland during their faceoff.
The rivals traded insults for nearly 30 minutes on stage, repeatedly clashing over personal history, past training sessions, and Chimaev’s ties to Ramzan Kadyrov. Security was forced to step in after the main event faceoff when Chimaev kicked Strickland, bringing the heated scene to an abrupt close.
Strickland opened fire early, saying, "Let me tell you about this f*cking p*ssy," before attacking Chimaev over his COVID-19 layoff: "I was there when you walked off the mat and had COVID and retired. His dad, Ali, had to call him and say, ‘You better get back there and make me money.’" He added, "You let the common cold retire you. Don’t talk about me being a bitch. You had a cough, and you quit this f*cking sport."
Chimaev fired back by repeatedly targeting Strickland’s history of childhood abuse. At one point he said, "I beat him every day. Look at this guy, his dad beat him up every day, f*ck him up, and he has some mental problems." Strickland responded, "You’re making fun of child abuse," and later blasted Chimaev as "a f*cking animal" and "a f*cking coward."
The exchange echoed a previous buildup where Dricus du Plessis used Strickland’s childhood trauma as a pre-fight taunt, and Strickland once jumped over several rows of fans to go after du Plessis before their first fight.
