UFC 328 is upon us.
In Saturday’s main event, Khamzat Chimaev defends the middleweight title for the first time in a grudge match against former champion Sean Strickland. In the co-headliner, flyweight champ Joshua Van puts his belt on the line against Tatsuro Taira.
Here are four key storylines ahead of the UFC’s return to Prudential Center in Newark.
Is this Chimaev’s final fight in the middleweight division?
Chimaev is making his first middleweight title defense since he routed Dricus Du Plessis to become the champion at UFC 319 last August, but it also may be his last.
The 32-year-old Chechen has expressed an interest in moving up to the light heavyweight division after one title defense at 185 pounds. He isn’t too keen on facing the current batch of contenders in his division, including Nassourdine Imavov, Brendan Allen, and even Strickland, and instead wants to go for a second belt.
It’s basically commonplace for champions to want to move divisions in 2026, but if anyone deserves the right to do so, it’s Chimaev. Sure, he hasn’t established himself as a dominant champion with several title defenses, but the way he wins fights speaks for itself. Chimaev’s utter domination of Du Plessis made it seem unlikely that anybody will be able to challenge him at this weight.
Unless Strickland can pull off a shocking upset (which he’s done before – just ask Israel Adesanya), this could be the last time Chimaev steps into the Octagon as a middleweight.
Is this Strickland’s last chance at another UFC title?
This will be Strickland’s third time as the challenger in a UFC middleweight title bout. He’s 1-1 in those fights, beating Adesanya in 2023 and losing to Du Plessis in 2025.
Strickland wasn’t even the front-runner for the next title shot until he bulldozed past Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez in the UFC Houston main event in February. Many expected Imavov to get the next crack at Chimaev; the 30-year-old Frenchman is riding a five-fight winning streak with victories against the likes of Caio Borralho, Adesanya, and Allen. But the UFC couldn’t resist putting the polarizing and popular Strickland in another title bout after he beat Hernandez.
Strickland always has a shorter path to a title opportunity than many fighters, because, for better or worse, he’s one of the biggest draws in the UFC. But you can only get so many chances. At 35 years old, and with young fighters like Joe Pyfer and Bo Nickal on the rise, this may be Strickland’s last chance to make another run as middleweight champion.
Van, Taira leading youth movement at flyweight
It’s not often that a 24-year-old and 26-year-old square off for a UFC title.
That’ll be the case in Saturday’s co-main event when Van defends the flyweight championship against Taira. Van took the belt from veteran champion Alexandre Pantoja, who suffered an injury 26 seconds into their UFC 323 bout last December, and Taira defeated ex-champ Brandon Moreno to climb to No. 3 in the division.
MMA is supposed to have turnover in each division – that’s what keeps things fresh and interesting – but the youth movement at 125 pounds has been particularly evident as of late. Twenty-six-year-old Lone’er Kavanagh picked up a big win over Moreno in February and is another young guy to keep an eye on. The likes of Van, Taira, and Kavanagh have taken over the division, and now it’s on the likes of Pantoja and Moreno to try to claw their way back to the top.
Volkov, Cortes-Acosta look to launch themselves into heavyweight title contention
Saturday’s heavyweight bout between Alexander Volkov and Waldo Cortes-Acosta has major title implications.
Things are fluid at the top of the division. Champion Tom Aspinall is still sidelined after suffering an eye injury in his defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 last October. In his absence, Gane and former two-division champion Alex Pereira are set to meet for the interim belt at the UFC White House event on June 14. Aspinall said earlier this week he’ll fight the winner, but, of course, nothing is certain.
This leaves Volkov and Cortes-Acosta. Under ordinary circumstances, they could be in a No. 1 contender bout. Volkov is 5-1 in his last six Octagon appearances, while Cortes-Acosta is 8-1 in his last nine. It’s not super likely that the winner will get a title shot due to the logjam at the top of the division, but Volkov or Cortes-Acosta should be on standby in case someone isn’t ready to go.
