Dana White Puts Chimaev-Strickland at No. 3 UFC Feud — Ufc 328 Uk Time
Ufc 328 uk time got a sharper edge on Thursday when Khamzat Chimaev kicked Sean Strickland during their pre-fight faceoff, and Dana White later placed their rivalry at No. 3 on his all-time UFC feud list. The middleweight title fight is set for Saturday, and White said the bad blood around it ranks among the worst he has seen.
White’s No. 3 feud pick
White first said Chimaev and Strickland were No. 2 before moving them to No. 3, behind Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor and Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier. He called the matchup one of the worst cases of bad blood ever, then added, “I would put [Chimaev vs. Strickland] at 3. I would put Rampage [Jackson] and Rashad [Evans] up there. Tito [Ortiz] and [Ken Shamrock] would have to be up there.”
He also tied the top spot to the Brooklyn incident and what followed after McGregor fought Nurmagomedov, saying, “And the only reason Conor-Khabib is No. 1 is Brooklyn, and then what happened after the fight. … We made some mistakes, obviously, leading up to that fight and after that fight. And we won’t do that again.”
Chimaev and Strickland in the cage
The confrontation at Thursday’s press conference was not just talk. White said, “I had his arm, Khamzat’s arms, and I didn’t think he’d kick him,” and followed that by saying, “I didn’t think he was going to do anything. I thought it was going to be a lot of yelling and back-and-forth.”
That clash came after weeks of media exchanges, death threats, and insults about faith and upbringing around the fight. White called the whole week a hard one to top, saying, “That’s the most we will fail this weekend. That’s the most we will fail.”
UFC 328 on Saturday
Chimaev and Strickland are scheduled to fight for the middleweight title in the main event on Saturday, with White calling it a “Highly anticipated fight” that is finally set to happen. He also said, “It was great. Highly anticipated fight, finally going to happen on Saturday. …”
For the rest of UFC 328 fight week, the altercation has already set the tone. White’s ranking put this feud behind only two others in his view, and the title bout now carries that history straight into the cage.
