The heat and gossip around UFC 328 is not only about belts, but it’s louder and borderline chaotic. Khamzat Chimaev walks in unbeaten, carrying the aura of inevitability. Sean Strickland is the guy crashing that narrative, talking crazy, fighting harder, and embracing the underdog tag like there’s no tomorrow.
Now throw Dominick Cruz into the equation, and you’ll reckon how the storyline changes. While most see a one-sided title defense, Cruz is leaning the other way, and not at all being subtle about it.
Per MMA Junkie (May 4, 2026), Cruz is backing Strickland to pull off the upset against Chimaev in the UFC 328 main event. He sees this fight as far more competitive than the odds suggest, and believes the pressure of staying undefeated could crack the champ at the worst time.
“I’ll go with Strickland. I’ll go with the American. Why not? It’s not so lopsided to me. I like Strickland. I like this style. He brings all the things to the table that make this a real fight.
His style of striking is built for a wrestler to try to take him down. If there was a guy that could challenge Khamzat, this is the guy. We need to see it. I like it. I’ll take him. Why not? Let’s go American.”
Cruz’s breakdown, however, cuts deeper than just style. He pointed to Chimaev’s dominant win over Dricus du Plessis, alluding to how that was built on positional control rather than risky submissions. That approach worked, sure, but Strickland brings in a different kind of resistance. A veteran’s base. Relentless get-ups. Zero panic off his back.
That’s where the 41-year-old sees the opening. Strickland thrives in chaos and carries less expectation. Khamzat Chimaev, though, now has the target on his back – the very burden of being “the guy.”
“The expectation goes up, so you’re always supposed to win. So Strickland being the underdog is going to help him in this fight. It’s an ‘everyone is looking past me’ type of thing. And when you’re champion, nobody looks past you anymore.
You’re always the guy, so you’ve got to really know who you are because you can no longer count on other people counting you out most of the time. You’ve got to know who you are because you’re the only one that’s going to fuel you for six defenses in a row. It’s a different game. …”
Still, not everyone’s buying the upset. Former champ Robert Whittaker, speaking via UFC on Paramount+ (May 4, 2026), painted a far more brutal picture based on firsthand experience. That’s the split. One side sees pressure cracking perfection. The other sees domination continuing.
Either way, for us fans, UFC 328 just got a lot more interesting.
