Sean Strickland warns Khamzat Chimaev: ‘I'm going to shoot him'

Contributor ·29 April 2026

Sean Strickland said he plans to arm himself ahead of his UFC 328 title fight with Khamzat Chimaev and will open fire if the champion confronts him outside the cage.

The former middleweight titleholder told reporters Wednesday that any pre-fight run-in with Chimaev could turn fatal. “All I’m going to do, I’m going to pull my gun out and I’m going to shoot him,” Strickland said, according to MMA Fighting. “If you come up to me with three goat-fucking Chechnyans that don’t speak English, I’m going to pull my gun, and I’m going to shoot each and every one of you. I’ll be strapped in New Jersey, too, don’t even worry about that.”

Strickland mocks Chimaev’s Kadyrov ties, dismisses Imavov

Strickland repeatedly targeted Chimaev for his relationship with Ramzan Kadyrov, the sanctioned Chechen leader who has appeared at UFC events in Abu Dhabi and maintains ties to several prominent fighters. Per Sherdog, the pair’s animosity dates back to a brief period training together at Xtreme Couture, where Chimaev claims he submitted Strickland in grappling. Strickland dismissed that account as a meaningless training room moment.

When asked about leapfrogging Nassourdine Imavov for the title shot, Strickland went on a tirade against international talent, saying the UFC “find these shitty fucking people in these third-world fucking countries” and that fans “don’t even want to fucking see you guys.” He singled out Alex Pereira as an exception because Pereira “lives in America” and embodies “the American dream.”

Strickland said he expects no reconciliation after the fight, no matter the outcome. “I think me and fucking Khamzat, we die enemies,” he told MMA Fighting. The two meet May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark with Chimaev defending his middleweight belt for the first time.

Photo: MMAnytt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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