Khamzat Chimaev invokes Sean Strickland’s childhood trauma as volatile trash talk ratchets up ahead of UFC 328

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 07: Khamzat Chimaev of Russia is seen on stage during the UFC 328 press conference at Prudential Center on May 07, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC)

Khamzat Chimaev has stayed relatively quiet in the days leading up to UFC 328, but that all changed at the pre-fight press conference when he unleashed a volatile tirade aimed directly at Sean Strickland.

While it was no surprise that the hatred shared between them would likely boil over as they came face-to-face for the first time during fight week, the trash talk was even uglier than expected. Strickland wasted no time insulting Chimaev’s close ties to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov as well as the time they spent training together a few years ago.

Strickland also used that as a launching pad to blast Chimaev for nearly retiring after he was dealing with the fallout from a COVID-19 infection that knocked him out of a fight, and it appeared for a little while that he may never compete again.

“Let me tell you about this f*cking p*ssy,” Strickland shouted. “I was there when you walked off the mat and had COVID and retired. His dad, Ali, had to call him and say, ‘You better get back there and make me money.’

“I almost died in a motorcycle accident. Did I f*cking quit? Did I f*cking retire? You let the common cold retire you. Don’t talk about me being a bitch. You had a cough, and you quit this f*cking sport.”

As far as those training sessions, both fighters have vastly different memories when it comes to that subject, but Strickland vowed to do to Chimaev on Saturday exactly what he did to him in the gym in the past.

“I beat you in the gym,” Strickland said. “I’ll beat you here. I’ll beat you on this stage in front of everybody, you motherf*cker. Shut the f*ck up, you little f*cking Chechen wh*re.”

The insults were taken to a new extreme after Chimaev decided to go after Strickland and the childhood trauma he’s talked about in the past while growing up with an abusive father. It’s a similar strategy that Dricus du Plessis used ahead of his first fight against Strickland.