The UFC’s 328th numbered event took place this past weekend, May 9, in Newark New Jersey, and it was headlined by one of the most anticipated matchups in recent memory, featuring Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland. The event also featured a war in the co-main event between flyweight champion Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira, UFC 328 was a fantastic card with huge implications.
The biggest news following the card is of course Sean Strickland regaining his UFC middleweight title. Chimaev was a massive favorite, as he has been in nearly all of his fights in the promotion. Most people thought his dominant grappling would be far too much for Strickland to handle, but when the fight came around, the new champion proved to be more than capable.
An otherwise uneventful fight was highlighted by Strickland’s takedown denials in the second round, leading to him having multiple minutes of control time against a fighter who had never been held down in their career. The third to the fifth round were almost entirely on the feet, with Chimaev landing a few takedowns in between.
Chimaev’s boxing looked very solid, but Strickland’s is much more technical and proven, so it is no surprise that the judges gave the rounds that took place on the feet to the latter. The fight was definitely close, so the split decision makes sense. Despite it being such a close fight with Khamzat Chimaev, one of the most popular fighters in history, the fifth and final round did not feel as intense as it should have been.
Sean Strickland had a near perfect gameplan, but his execution of it left a lot to be desired, even though he was the one who walked away with the title. He said after the card was over that he would like to fight Nassourdine Imavov, the clear number one contender now that Chimaev is out of the picture. As for Chimaev, he is already eyeing a move to light heavyweight, where possible matchups with former rival Paulo Costa and Jiri Prochazka await.
The co-main event flyweight title fight was much better, as it featured the first ever UFC title fight between two fighters born in the 2000s, Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira. Van is coming off a 30-second fight with Alexandre Pantoja where the latter broke his arm seconds into the bout, giving Van the title by default. Many fans were upset with Van due to his celebration after the injury, but he won lots of them back with an epic performance against the Japanese grappling phenom this weekend.
Taira started the fight dominantly, spending the entire first round on top, showcasing his nasty grappling skills. The second round saw a change of pace, however, as Van’s incredible boxing began to open up, leading to a huge knockdown at the end of the round. Round three was another dominant round for Van, who scored another knockdown. It was trending towards a 10-8 round, but Taira’s takedown late made it slightly more competitive.
Both men had their moments in rounds four and five, but Van simply had the bigger ones, inflicting far more damage en route to a round five TKO victory against the cage. Van truly established himself as one of the best in the world, and with his first title defense at 24 years old, he is in legendary company with Jon Jones as the only two fighters to ever accomplish the feat.
As for Tatsuro Taira, he showcased his tremendous skill, heart and chin in an epic fight. A great performance, but not enough to win the belt just yet. He still struggles with striking defense, but most fans believe that once he fixes that, he will be an unstoppable force in the flyweight division.
For now, flyweight champion Joshua Van is expected to defend his belt against who many believe is the real champion of the division, Alexandre Pantoja. Taira eyes another top contender to keep his name in the title race, so a matchup with the loser of Manel Kape/Kyoji Horiguchi is likely for him.
The feature main card bout was a title eliminator between two top heavyweights, Alexander Volkov and Waldo Cortes-Acosta. Another somewhat uneventful fight, Volkov solidified himself as the true top contender to Tom Aspinall’s throne with a solid victory over the Dominican former baseball player.
Both men showed their striking prowess, but Volkov’s reach advantage and slightly higher output separated himself in the judges eyes. It was a very close fight, as lots of people actually believe Cortes-Acosta won. Regardless of who actually won the fight, it is nice to see Volkov at the top of the division, because he is on a solid win streak in a division that really lacks threatening contenders to Aspinall.
The best matchup for Cortes-Acosta is likely Josh Hokit, assuming he beats Derrick Lewis at the upcoming White House card next month. Hokit has already called out Cortes-Acosta, and a press conference between the two would make big numbers for the promotion.
Sean Brady vs. Joaquin Buckley, prior to the card, was seen as a very competitive fight between two very talented welterweights coming off losses. The discourse became very one-sided in Buckley’s favor, as there appeared to be a leaked injury from Brady’s camp, leading to a huge shift in the betting odds, leaving many to speculate that the fight would be pulled from the card.
In a result that shocked everyone, however, Brady was just fine. In fact, he looked better than ever, completely dominating Joaquin Buckley. Brady’s tremendous top pressure and ground and pound proved to be far too much to handle for the St. Louis native, earning 30-25 scorecards from two judges.
Brady is already eyeing a rematch with Michael Morales, the man who knocked him out one fight ago. He is claiming that the result was a fluke, and that “no man in the division can survive when he has them on the ground.” Buckley’s performance has everyone wondering what he has been doing for the past 11 months, as his last fight prior to the Brady fight was against Kamaru Usman, which produced similar results.
The first fight on the main card was a matchup between two veterans. Bobby “King” Green and Jeremy Stephens are both guys who have seen it all inside the Octagon, but Green was the one who exceeded all expectations. He was barely touched, and he found the rear-naked choke finish at the end of the first round.
After the fight, Green called out Dana White for not giving him a performance bonus in his last fight, asking the president of the company to give him his long-awaited bonus. He did not receive a bonus after the fight, but White did offer him custom fight shorts.
Green has been on a roll in the lightweight division, extending his win streak to three. He will likely get another big name outside of the rankings, such as Terrance McKinney or Chris Duncan. Stephens, on the other hand, has been winless in seven straight fights, having not won since 2018. He will likely announce his retirement or be cut soon.
The prelims of UFC 328 were fantastic, as Ateba Gautier continued his impressive run in the middleweight division with a knockout win over Ozzy Diaz. Admittedly, Gautier’s win streak has been against lesser fighters in the division, and with his streak moving to five. Gautier definitely deserves a ranked fighter next, because everyone is tired of seeing him against fighters of Diaz’ caliber.
Yaroslav Amosov had potentially the best performance on the card. He completely dominated Joel Alvarez, who is a tough fight for almost everyone at welterweight, en route to a second round submission victory. He called out the winner of the ranked welterweight matchup on the main card (Sean Brady). Amosov vs. Brady is a sick fight to make after the card, which will determine how high the former’s stock truly is in the division.
Grant Dawson turned in an impressive submission win over Mateusz Rebecki, cementing his status as a top lightweight outside the rankings. Speaking of which, the most experienced fighter in UFC history, Jim Miller, earned a first round submission victory over Jared Gordon, earning an electric win in his home state.
Roman Kopylov looked solid in his decision victory over Marco Tulio, where both men had each other on the ropes at multiple points in the fight. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Pat Sabatini won an awful decision against William Gomis in an incredibly boring match.
Baisangur Susurkaev won yet another bout in the UFC against Djorden Santos. Again, Susurkaev did not look super impressive, but he got the job done in the third round after a competitive fight in the first two. In the opener of the card, Jose Ochoa looked fantastic against Clayton Carpenter, showcasing his striking prowess in a very dominant win over the bright prospect.
As a whole, UFC 328 delivered. Outside of the main event, every bout on the main card was great. Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira stole the show, but there were also some great performances on the prelims. The event proved to be another in a long line of good cards produced by the best fighting promotion in the world.
