Sean Strickland may have delivered the smartest tactical performance of his career against Khamzat Chimaev. In this clip, the fight gets broken down round by round—and the turning point came early. The opening round looked exactly how people expected: Chimaev pushing wrestling pressure and dictating the pace. But once Strickland stuffed a key shot in the second round, the entire fight shifted. The adjustment was subtle but brilliant. By constantly backing up while staying active with the jab, Strickland limited Chimaev’s ability to explode into takedowns. Most fans saw retreating. What was really happening was tactical defense. Every step backward removed the wrestling entries Chimaev was waiting for. And Chimaev kept waiting. Throughout the championship rounds, he was hunting for one mistake—one reckless charge forward, one greedy exchange, one moment where Strickland planted his feet for the knockout. It never came. Strickland stayed disciplined for five rounds and forced one of the closest fights of Chimaev’s career. That’s what made this performance so shocking. An undefeated aura suddenly looked vulnerable. Subscribe for more MMA breakdowns, fight analysis, and real insight into the game. #SeanStrickland #KhamzatChimaev #UFC #MMA #FightBreakdown #FightTalk #CombatSports
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Sean took some expert advice.I can't let you get close
He was coming forward right into a jab It was hilarious Giving away points and damage
I’d say Sean has the two biggest title fight upsets in ufc history
Strickland has one of the biggest differences between attitude, and how he actually fights
Failure is a very strict and cruel teacher, but is the most effective for those who care to learn from it
He was blocking those jabs pretty good with his face
Dude…. This was the single best commentary on this fight. Well put, well articulated.
Nicksick doesn't get the credit he deserves as a coach. He's upset the odds so many times
Never a Strickland fan but I wanted him to win this one
Arguably this guy has two of the biggest upset victories in UFC history, considering the one with Adesanya as well
Chimaev is dominant on the ground for a whole fight ONLY as long as he doesnt have to work hard to keep a guy down. Sean Strickland was constantly fighting the hands and posting while defending his post arm and kept causing just the slightest bit of seperation to where ibstead of Chimaev being able to just have his weight hold the guy down, he had to burn out his arms and lungs to work very hard to keep Sean down. I kinda think that 1st round is actually what lost the fight for Chimaev. He worked so much harder to stay on top and close the gaps than Sean did in defending. The reason Chimaev stopped going for the takedown as much is because be knew it would gas his rapidly trying to keep Sean down. So he stood with Sean and tried to constantly push forward because he knew if he didnt, Sean would and it would also gas Chimaev out. Chimaev did the best thing he could to maintain energy for rounds 2-5. That pressure, though, led to him constantly walking into stiff jabs, and these are 4 oz gloves. Jabs with 4 oz gloves hurt a lot more than with any boxing gloves. Also, the only reason he went for that takedown in the 2nd round was because he got rocked by a straight right hand from Strickland's damaged shoulder. Its wild how many people missed thet, but it helps explain why his takedown attempt was so weak and why he went to his back. He was trying to recover. Who knows if he will have more energy in the 2nd fight with a better weight cut, but we do now know that Sean is good enough to force Chimaev to work very hard for control, which is the kriptonite of Chimaev. So, a better weight cut for Chimaev and a less injured shoulder for Strickland in a rematch still leads me to believe that Strickland will win. Chimaev did literally NO DAMAGE to Sean when he was on top btw. That 1st round is the perfect example of winning the battle but losing the war.
You forget Holly Holm whooping Rhonda's ass as the biggest upset.
‘He couldn’t let him het close!!’ 😉
Khamzat abandoned all defense in round 5 and just ate every single punch
Strickland has the 2 greatest middleweight upsets ever !
Are we not mentioning the fact that the reason Khazmat was on his back in the second is because Sean rocked him?
A calm sean is a dangerous sean
Hazmat quickly regained an awful lot of energy in that third round!!🧐
And thats why its such a beautiful sport so many levels
In all fairness I think Sean won at least one of those fights against DDP