Sean Strickland defeated Khamzat Chimaev by split decision at UFC 328 in April, taking Chimaev’s middleweight title after a jab-heavy main event that went the distance.
Chimaev started strong and had a big first round, but his wrestling declined as the fight progressed and he chose to strike rather than lean on a grappling-heavy gameplan. The article describes Chimaev as looking tentative and tired with his strength fading after the opening frame.
In the aftermath, Chimaev’s training partner and cornerman Arman Tsarukyan publicly backed him on social media, writing, “We fought our hearts out tonight and everyone watching knows what really happened,” and adding, “Head up Champ. You will get your belt back soon.”
Questions around Chimaev’s preparation intensified when an old interview resurfaced from Cub Swanson about strength and conditioning coach Sam Calavitta, referred to as “Coach Cal.” In that interview, Swanson said, “I lost every fight that I trained with Coach Cal,” and continued, “And I’m not really blaming him. I learned so much from him and think he’s a savant when it comes to some things … I was getting run into the ground, by the time I made it to the fight I was on [empty]. There was no tapering, it was like grind, grind, grind. You get into the fight and you’re like, ‘I’ve been fighting for two months, three months. I’m tired.’”
The result comes after previous debate following Strickland’s win over Israel Adesanya, while Chimaev has faced long-running accusations of over-training and was previously linked to a 46-pound weight cut mentioned by Tsarukyan.
