Yes, Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland is shaping up to be a chaotic culmination of years of bad blood, as advertised. The UFC 328 press conference streaming numbers surpassed the last two numbered events’ pressers in a mere four minutes! It is now ranked third in all-time views, only behind UFC 229 and UFC 264. If you look at the words (and the near-blows) exchanged in New Jersey, it’s not hard to understand why.

Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland wrapped up an extremely chaotic press conference on Thursday. And calling it ‘chaotic’ might not even do the spectacle justice. Things escalated to a level where the Chechen fighter ended up kicking Strickland during their face-off, as security personnel and armed police officers had to get involved.

“All f—king talk,” Strickland screamed into the mic. “All this man does is f—king talk.”

“I will be your daddy in the cage,” Chimaev responded.

“F—k you,” Strickland fired back. “Oh yeah, you f—king Chechen, f—king w—re. I’ll send you back to your parents, you little b—h. F—k you… Go back to your country, you f—king coward.”

“I will be your daddy in the cage,” Khamzat Chimaev repeated. “I make you cry again.”

“F—king guy leaves his s—ty country, flees to Sweden, goes back home and w—res himself out to a f—king dictator,” Strickland said. “You don’t know what it’s like to be a f—king man…”

“I’m an American,” Strickland added. “I know how to be a f—king man. You see how they put my fans over here? You see those f—king heathens over here?”

“You shouldn’t be allowed in this f—king country,” Strickland continued. “You guys are the definition of f—king dog s—t, and you need to get the f—k out of America and stop ruining it.”

“Who you talking to?” Chimaev replied. “That’s America. America loves me, bro. Oh, yeah. Nobody loves you. All of these guys love me. Let me tell you guys — nobody loves you. Only your daddy loves you.”

“Let me tell you about this f—king p—sy,” Strickland said. “You’re making fun of child a—se. This is why you’re a f—king animal.”

“You should cry. You should cry now,” Khamzat Chimaev responded. “It’s not my problem, you poor b—h.”

The pair have been beefing since 2022, having trained in the same gym. However, things really escalated to unprecedented levels after a title fight between them was announced for UFC 328 on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Now, when the rivals finally came face-to-face, 30 minutes of ugly verbal tongue-fu led to the kicking incident. 

According to reports, at least 10 security guards had to intervene after Chimaev kicked Strickland in the shin. The kicking incident happened right after the pair walked toward each other for a face-off. And ‘Tarzan’ had to be held back by security after that point. In any case, Sean Strickland later hopped on X, commenting on his assault by Khamzat Chimaev. 

“Exactly what I expected a coward to do,” he wrote. 

In the meantime, Dana White, who was among the people trying to separate the two men, has shared his thoughts on the heated presser. 

Dana White claims Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland presser is outdone by only one other

UFC CEO Dana White believes the bad blood between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland is nearly unmatched in UFC history ahead of UFC 328.

Speaking on WFAN’s The Carter Show, White ranked their rivalry behind only the legendary feud between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“Khamzat vs. Strickland, bad blood,” White said. “When you talk about top five UFC fights of all time where the guys have serious hatred between them, I put this number two behind Conor and Khabib.”

White explained that the McGregor-Nurmagomedov rivalry still tops the list because of the infamous chaos surrounding their UFC 229 clash in Brooklyn.

“The only reason I put Conor and Khabib over it is what happened in Brooklyn leading up to that fight,” he added.

Concerns over tensions escalating reportedly even led White to cancel a planned face-off between Chimaev and Strickland during fight week.

That being said, Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland is shaping up to be one of the most heated fights in recent UFC history. But can it rival the chaos and aftermath of McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov?