Khamzat Chimaev scoffs at Sean Strickland’s threats ahead of UFC 328: ‘If he wanted [a real war], he would be dead already’

“In New Jersey, this is a Muslim community, it’s my home. I don’t think so that he’s going to come with the guns there. Otherwise, it will be a lot of people injured because he’s there.”

Prior to his threats of gun violence more recently, Strickland has concentrated a lot of his pre-fight trash talk on the past training sessions he spent with Chimaev when they worked together at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

It’s one of the reasons Strickland is so confident he’ll recapture the UFC middleweight title because he’s touted how often he dominated Chimaev in those training sessions. While sparring in the gym isn’t fighting in the octagon, Strickland feels like he’s already spent enough time with Chimaev in the cage that he knows exactly what to expect when they finally clash.

Strickland’s claims that he dominated Chimaev in the past actually got a bigger reaction from the UFC middleweight champion than those threats about coming after him with a gun.

“He never had success with me,” Chimaev said. “It’s not going to be different this time as well. I was fighting at 170 at that time. Imagine I beat him at that weight and I was cutting the weight and that time I beat him.

“Right now, people know how big I am. How hungry I am. It’s good meat. I like white American chicken.”

Strickland had irritated plenty of his past opponents and it’s likely he’ll ratchet up the distasteful rhetoric aimed at Chimaev even more when they finally come face to- face during fight week. The UFC 328 press conference scheduled for Thursday gives Strickland the best chance to say something crazy in an attempt to get under Chimaev’s skin.

While pre-fight trash talk is nothing new, Chimaev promises he’s not going to let anybody’s words affect how he fights and if anything, he actually welcomes Strickland to get even crazier because it just makes his job that much easier.

“I like his talking,” Chimaev said about Strickland. “He’s good for me. I don’t worry about that I need to talk. He’s talking for everyone. I hope he’s going to talk more. It’s funny to listen to this guy.”