Daniel Cormier believes Sean Strickland could’ve had a more definitive win over Khamzat Chimaev with one change.
Strickland secured his second UFC title when he earned a split nod over Chimaev on May 9. The two collided in the UFC 328 headliner. “Borz” put the middleweight title at stake inside the Prudential Center in Newark. Chimaev had early success with his grappling, but Strickland was able to thwart that area of his game throughout the fight.
Chimaev was forced to stand up and while he had success of his own, it wasn’t enough to outgun Strickland in the eyes of two of the three judges. While Strickland has been lauded for his performance, Cormier thinks it had the potential to be even better. The UFC Hall of Famer explained how in a new video posted on his YouTube channel (via MMAJunkie).
“You got a Sean Strickland that got taken down in Round 1,” Cormier said. “Round 2 scored his own takedowns, Round 3 controlled the fight with the jab. Honestly, I thought Strickland made a mistake in Round 3 by not really pressing on the gas because I felt like Khamzat had a bit of an adrenaline dump. If he’d really pressed him, he really could have made Khamzat struggle down the stretch, but he didn’t. But he wins Round 3. Round 4, Khamzat comes back and he fights like Khamzat. I thought Strickland’s jab was probably the most effective punch of the entire fight.”
Strickland figures to be sidelined for a while after suffering a type 2 AC separation along with partial rotator cuff tearing. Strickland revealed he separated his shoulder during fight week and had some anxiety about how that would impact his performance. There is currently no word on how long Strickland will be out of action for.
Do you agree that with Daniel Cormier’s take? Could Sean Strickland have turned on the gas in the third round to give Khamzat Chimaev even more issues? Sound off in the comments below.
