UFC 328 will be headlined by a blockbuster middleweight championship match between reigning champion Khamzat Chimaev and former titleholder Sean Strickland.
UFC President Dana White announced Thursday that the 185-pound grudge match will take place on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Chimaev won the title last summer at UFC 319, beating Dricus Du Plessis and sweeping the scorecards. He has yet to attempt to defend his title.
The undefeated 31-year-old is 3-0 since earning a permanent promotion from welterweight to middleweight with back-to-back wins over past champions Kamaru Usman and Robert Whittaker and a win over du Plessis.
It was Strickland’s first win since losing a five-round decision to du Plessis in a championship rematch a year ago at UFC 312. The 35-year-old from California has bounced between wins and losses since winning the title.
Strickland won the title by defeating longtime champion Israel Adesanya in 2023, lost the belt to du Plessis at UFC 297, rebounded with a win over Paulo Costa, lost the du Plessis rematch, and then showed a completely new look in his fight against Hernández a year later.
The brash and polarizing American made it clear that he wants the next fight with Chimaev for the belt after stopping Hernandez.
Du Plessis is still the No. 1 contender in the division and has not fought since losing to Chimaev.
Nassourdine Imavov is ranked second at 185 pounds on a five-fight win streak, but will have to wait for his first title shot, having previously lost to Strickland.
UFC 328 is a tournament held in New Jersey for the fourth consecutive year, and at last year’s UFC 316, Merab Dvalishvili and Kyla Harrison took on Sean O’Malley and Juliana Pena, respectively, for the bantamweight title.
White also announced several other fights included on the UFC 328 card.
Volkov vs. Cortes Acosta (co-main)
Brady vs. Berkeley
Blachowicz vs. Guskov 2
King Green vs. Jeremy
Stevens Gaultier vs. Ozzie Diaz
Finally, White announced several fights other than UFC 328.
Charles Jourdain vs. Kyler Phillips (April 18, Winnipeg co-main)
Aljamain Sterling vs. Youssef Zalal (April 25 Meta Apex Main Match)
Beneil Dariush vs. Quillan Salkilld (joint in Perth on 2 May)
Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa (May 16 Meta Apex Main Match)
Belal Muhammad vs. G. Bonfim (Meta Apex Main Event, June 6)
Macau, China, May 30:
Song Yadong vs Daveson Figueiredo (Main)
Zhang Minyang vs Alonzo Menifield (co-main)
Sergey Pavlovich vs. Talison Teixeira
