Khamzat Chimaev reveals gameplan for UFC 328 press conference with Sean Strickland: ‘I just tried to stop him’

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 had a strategy for the UFC 328 press conference and he pulled it off perfectly.

For the past three weeks, Sean Strickland has been talking endless trash about Chimaev, Chimaev’s family, and Chechnya. Real vile bottom of the barrel racist stuff, and it was a real question how Chimaev would react if Strickland dropped some of his greatest hits in person just a dozen feet away from “Borz.”

While Strickland did indeed run through a number of his more offensive zingers, you might not have heard them because Chimaev basically yelled over him the entire press conference. Every time Sean started talking, Khamzat actively interrupted him, yelling non-stop, repeating himself, and whooping at the crowd. “Tarzan” pushed on with his own taunts, but you could tell he was extremely frustrated by the end of the press conference.

Russian Hustle video blogger Adam Zubayraev has been with Chimaev through this entire training camp and captured the moments following the UFC 328 presser.

“In my opinion, Khamzat completely outplayed him,” Zubayraev said. “Sean was nervous, you could really see that certain moments were irritating him.”

“If I didn’t stop him, he was gonna say more and more bad things,” Chimaev said of his endless disruptions. “I just tried to stop him. If I let him speak, he was gonna speak about my mom and dad and everyone, I needed to do something. I don’t like when he is speaking about this s–t. If someone tries to do that, you have to get them back.”