UFC 328 will land at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, with Khamzat Chimaev defending the middleweight title against Sean Strickland in the main event and Joshua Van putting the flyweight belt on the line against Tatsuro Taira in the co-main event. It is the second consecutive year that twin title fights have topped the bill in Newark.
For Chimaev, the matchup brings another test after he won the middleweight title at UFC 319 last August by beating Dricus Du Plessis with wrestling and top position. Strickland, the 35-year-old, earned this shot in February with a third-round stoppage of Anthony Hernandez, but he arrives with a mixed recent championship record. He won the UFC 293 title fight against Israel Adesanya, then lost each of his last two championship bouts.
Van, the 24-year-old champion, claimed the flyweight title from Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 323 last December. Taira, the 26-year-old challenger, was already scheduled for the UFC 328 co-main event after stopping Brandon Moreno, and the fight was moved from UFC 327 to Newark. He has lost only once inside the Octagon, and that defeat came by split decision to Brandon Royval.
Newark has become a regular UFC stop over the last three years, with 11 visits overall dating back to UFC 78: Validation, when Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans fought there. The return of two title fights gives the card a familiar look for the arena, but the stakes are different this time: Chimaev has stayed unbeaten while facing stiffer challenges and more scrutiny, and Strickland is trying to turn another title shot into a result that has eluded him. If the pattern in Newark holds, the city will again be at the center of one of the UFC’s biggest nights.
