Sean Strickland reclaimed the UFC middleweight title at UFC 328 and says he did it while dealing with a shoulder injury suffered days before fight night.
Strickland defeated Khamzat Chimaev by split decision in the main event at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sat., May 9, 2026, to once again claim the middleweight crown.
After the fight, Strickland revealed he suffered a Grade 1 AC joint separation in his shoulder on the Tuesday of fight week while sparring Johnny Eblen at Plinio Cruz’s gym. “You wanna hear something funny?” Strickland said. “So on Tuesday, I’m sparring Johnny Eblen — that motherf—ker, PFL champ. And I’m at Plinio Cruz’s gym [Alex Pereira’s coach], and he shoots on me, and I hit this brick wall and I separated my shoulder. So I had a Grade 1 AC joint separation on Tuesday.”
“I remember lying in bed on Tuesday night, and I can’t lay on my left side, and I’m like, ‘You’re such a f—king idiot. You are such a f—king idiot,’” he added, noting he even altered his warmup on fight night. “So in the back I usually like to get better warmups, but I didn’t want to warm up and throw my shoulder out, so the entire time I was thinking I’m such a f—king moron.”
Strickland said he believes he broke his nose again during the bout and plans to take some time off. He also stated he has previously fought while dealing with a serious shoulder issue before his rematch against Dricus du Plessis, and is now on a two-fight win streak back on top of the middleweight division.
