Former UFC champion predicts Khamzat Chimaev 'runs over' Sean Strickland

Some analysts and former fighters believe former middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland has the style and skillset to give undefeated champion Khamzat Chimaev a run for his money in the UFC 328 main event this weekend, including Joe Rogan and the original BMF Jorge Masvidal. Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker doesn't agree.

Whittaker's predication carries a little added weight because he's shared the octagon with Chimaev. He was thoroughly dominated and left with his bottom row of teeth pushed in.

"The thing is, you can prepare and expect for things as much as you want, right? But all the preparation we did and stuff, it didn't, he was just better than the preparation," Whittaker told UFC on Paramount+. "You know, his ability to stick to you to control the positions to just move into another position once he got his hands on you was just next level. We also saw that with the Dricus [Du Plessis] fight.

"Dricus is a hard guy to hold down. He's a big, strong man and the way that he handled him and extended his cardio over five rounds and just kept making those adjustments efficiently, making those adjustments so he didn't gas himself early," continued Whittaker.

"The only shortcoming anyone could had seen before the Dricus fight would have been his cardio. You know, investing so heavily into his wrestling in round one and then slowing down in the later rounds, so for him to have closed that gap to make those adjustments. We prepped as well as anybody else can, and I'm sure Dricus prepped as well as anybody else could. It's just his level is to be respected. It is."

Strickland and Chimaev have trained together. Strickland has an idea of what he'll be facing on Saturday, but Whittaker doesn't think it's going to matter.

"He (Strickland) talks a big game. He almost convinces me that he can do it but having been in there with Chimaev, having seen what Chimaev can do once he gets his hands on you, and he will because he shoots from so far away and he commits wholeheartedly and he will get you to the mat. It's what happens after," said the former champion.

"Seeing that he has the cardio to be able to do that for five rounds as well, mate. It's gun to my head, Chimaev's going to run him over."

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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 10:38 PM.