Dana White gives his immediate reaction to Sean Strickland’s win over Khamzat Chimaev at #UFC328:
“I had it 2-2 going into the last round, and I thought Strickland won the last round.”
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UFC 328 Main Event
UFC president Dana White revealed his scorecard for the UFC 328 main event between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland.
The UFC middleweight title was on the line between Chimaev and Strickland in the headliner of UFC 328, which took place on Saturday, May 9, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The two rivals have hated each other for a long time leading up to fight week, and things got nasty at the pre-fight press conference, when Chimaev kicked Strickland, nearly leading to a brawl. Fortunately, the two fighters made it to the fight unscathed, and the bout went on as planned.
As you would expect from two elite middleweights, the fight between Chimaev and Strickland was an incredible war of attrition that went the full 25 minutes. At the end of the five rounds, it was truly anyone’s fight to win or lose. But the judges sided with Strickland, as he won a split decision with 47-48, 48-47, and 48-47 scorecards to become a two-time UFC middleweight champion.
The Chimaev vs. Strickland fight was very close, and there were differing opinions all over the internet about who people thought won. In the end, the only three scorecards that matter are the judges sitting cageside, and two of them thought Strickland won, so he’s now the new champion.
Another person whose opinion matters, albeit slightly less than the judges, is White, the UFC president. Speaking to reporters following the event, White was asked who he thought won the fight, and he revealed his scorecard.
“I scored the main event. I had it 2-2 going into the last round. I thought Strickland won the last round,” White said, as the UFC bossman admitted to giving Strickland a 48-47 scorecard.
Dana White gives his immediate reaction to Sean Strickland’s win over Khamzat Chimaev at #UFC328:
“I had it 2-2 going into the last round, and I thought Strickland won the last round.”
There is no doubt that the UFC 328 main event was an incredibly close fight, and one that could have gone either way. After all, it was a split decision for a reason, showing just how close the bout was.
At Heavy.com, we slightly edged the bout towards Chimaev with a 48-47 score in our live scoring of the contest, but it was an extremely close fight that came down to how the fifth and final round was judged. So in that sense, we had a similar scorecard as White in that we had it 2-2 after four rounds. We just felt that Chimaev did enough in the final stanza to take it, though we have no issues with the judges siding with Strickland.
Taking a look at the media scorecards at MMADecisions.com, you can see how close the MMA media members thought it was.
Out of 24 tracked media members, 11 scored the bout for Strickland, and 13 scored it for Chimaev, indicating just how close of a fight it was.
In fan scorecards submitted to the site, Strickland won on 67% of the fan scorecards, with 33% going with Chimaev, out of the 500 fan scorecards submitted to the site at this time of writing.
Anytime a fight is this close, the natural reaction is to run it back in an immediate rematch. But with White confirming that Chimaev is moving up to 205 lbs for his next bout following a tough weight cut, it seems like Strickland will be fighting someone else in his first title defense at middleweight.
Adam Martin Adam Martin is a sports journalist with over 15 years of experience. He has a speciality in MMA, while also covering the Big 4 Sports. Adam is currently a contributor to Heavy.com, with previous experience working for The Toronto Star, Sportsnet, theScore, Bookies, BJPenn.com, and MMAOddsbreaker.com. More about Adam Martin
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