Khamzat Chimaev will be licking his lips at the thought of this stat heading into UFC 328.
This coming Saturday, Khamzat Chimaev will make the first defense of his middleweight title when he takes on longtime rival, Sean Strickland in the UFC 328 main event.
The former middleweight champion isn’t highly favored coming into his matchup against ‘Borz’, but his new teammate and sparring partner Alex Pereira has told him what he must do to beat the Chechen.
Despite that, Chimaev will be eyeing a stat that Strickland has remarkably held for over 12 years, spanning over 24 fights in the premier promotion.
None of Strickland’s UFC opponents have ever attempted to submit him
Strickland has been fighting in the premier promotion now since 2014 when he made his debut against Bubba McDaniel, scoring the rear-naked choke win.
Since then, 16 of his fights have gone to the scorecards while he has only lost twice by knockout, one having come at the hands of the aforementioned ‘Poatan’.
Despite that, Strickland has never been submitted in his MMA career but not only that, no one has ever even attempted to submit the 35-year-old.
And that is something ‘Borz’ will likely be salivating at the thought of as he is a true grappling specialist in the sport with his dominant wrestling.
Four of the 32-year-old’s UFC wins have come by way of submission while he has only not attempted a submission in three of his fights.
One of which was against Gilbert Burns, who he credited for his grappling which resulted in the pair having a striking war, in what was one of the closest Chimaev has come to losing.
Just two fights ago, Chimaev went on to break Robert Whittaker’s jaw with an utterly brutal face crank, showcasing his scary grappling acumen.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
“Having been in there with Chimaev, having seen what Chimaev can do once he gets his hands on you, and he will because he shoots from so far away and he commits wholeheartedly, he will get you to the mat, it’s what happens after, seen that he has the cardio to do that for five rounds, Chimaev’s gonna run him over,” Whittaker recently told UFC on Paramount.
2026-05-05 15:00:00
