This wouldn't be the first time i confidently picked against Sean Strickland in a title fight just to be wrong, but I'll run it back. I really don't see him winning here. There's no way he can stay off his back. Khamzat is a different level of wrestler with a different level of control. The only flaw in his game that people point to is his cardio but that looked outstanding in his 25 minute win over DDP. If you didn't know these two trained together a few years ago and Sean has thrown out conflicting reports. He first said that Khamzat was making him tap in training to only say a few years later that he made Khamzat quit and called him mentally weak. Khamzat of course says he dominated Sean everywhere. I don't know who to believe or even think it matters because training is not always a realistic representation of what would happen in a fight. I'm going to pick Khamzat here. I think the wrestling is just far too dominant and Sean will lose because of control time. I do also think this will be more competitive than the DDP fight but the same outcome. Personally i would like to see Sean win and then Khamzat move up to light heavy, but i just don't think thats the reality here.

Khamzat Chimaev

Khamzat Chimaev is a polarizing guy that people talk about as if he is not human. We hear about his work ethic, his wrestling and his ability to dominate fights wherever they go. In execution, we have seen the wrestling and we have seen the one punch power, but we have also seen him struggle a bit with activity that has been underpinned by random health scares and long layoffs. The reality is that it seems as though Khamzat can take anyone down whenever he wants to and is seemingly impossible to take down. He is willing to strike, but isn't the most technical. He is coming off the one sided win over DDP to become world champion.

Sean Strickland

Sean Strickland is a meat and potatoes striker who says everything that pops into his head and is a bit unstable outside of the cage. He is however very put together inside of it. Style wise he walks forward and throws a ton of punches. He isn't particularly powerful or particularly fast but he has volume at almost 6 significant strikes a minute and fantastic takedown defense at 76%. He is a durable guy with a straight forward game plan. He is coming off the finish win over Fluffy Hernandez.