The UFC is rolling out heightened security measures for the UFC 328 main event between middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland on May 9 in New Jersey.
UFC CEO Dana White confirmed the promotion will increase security and law enforcement presence throughout fight week and keep the two headliners apart as they close in on fight night.
"No bullshit, we’re going to beef up security and law enforcement and everything. All of it. Hotels, bumping into each other, all that [kind of stuff]," White said. He added that the UFC is "Definitely [putting them in separate hotels]," and emphasized, "That’s definitely going to happen."
A planned pre-fight faceoff staged by Paramount for Chimaev and Strickland has also been scrapped at the UFC’s direction. "I hope somebody told them [that isn’t happening]," White said. "Because that is the case. Because that is a fact."
The measures come ahead of Chimaev and Strickland’s championship clash atop UFC 328, with the organization intent on tightly controlling any interactions between the rivals during fight week.
