![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260601120818_mw060126na.JPG\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
John
\nBrannigan\/Sherdog.com illustration<\/p>\n
Middleweight
\n<\/p>\n
Strickland conquered the boogeyman at UFC 328, taking a hard-fought
\nsplit decision triumph over Khamzat Chimaev in the evening\u2019s main
\nevent at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 9. The
\noutspoken Xtreme Couture product has rebounded well from a pair of
\ntitle losses to Dricus Du Plessis and now begins his second
\nchampionship reign at 185 pounds. An immediate rematch with Chimaev
\ncould be a possibility for Strickland, as could a trilogy with Du
\nPlessis or a clash with top contender Nassourdine Imavov, who
\nStrickland defeated in 2023.<\/p>\n
Chimaev\u2019s aura of invincibility ended for good at UFC 328, where he
\ndropped a split decision to Sean Strickland in a middleweight
\nchampionship clash on May 9 in Newark, New Jersey. While \u201cBorz\u201d had
\nshown chinks in his armor prior to facing Strickland, he had never
\ntasted defeat until his 25-minute duel with the Xtreme Couture
\nrepresentative. Chimaev should be commended for rallying after
\nappearing to gas in Round 2, but plans of a move to 205 pounds
\nmight be ill-advised after he struggled to keep Strickland down
\nafter a strong opening stanza. Given the close nature of the
\ndefeat, Chimaev could be in line for an immediate rematch with his
\nformer training partner if he remains at middleweight.
\nDu Plessis was too big, too strong and just a step ahead of Kamaru
\nUsman throughout their encounter in the headliner of UFC Oklahoma
\nCity on July 18, cruising to a one-sided unanimous decision. While
\nthe win over a 39-year-old former welterweight did not elevate his
\nstock much, it answered many of the questions lingering over Du
\nPlessis after his deflating title loss to Khamzat Chimaev last
\nAugust. Whether his next matchup is a rematch with Chimaev or a
\nshot at Sean Strickland, against whom he is already 2-0,
\n\u201cStillknocks\u201d reaffirmed his place as one of the very best
\nmiddleweights in MMA.<\/p>\n
Imavov delivered in front of the home folks, taking a clear-cut Other Contenders: Johnny Jump To \u00bb
\nunanimous decision over Caio Borralho in the UFC Paris headliner on
\nSept. 6. \u201cThe Sniper\u201d extended his winning streak to five, a run
\nthat also includes triumphs over the likes of Israel Adesanya,
\nBrendan Allen, Jared Cannonier and Roman Dolidze. While Imavov
\nappeared to be the leader in the clubhouse for the next
\nmiddleweight title shot against Khamzat Chimaev, that opportunity
\ninstead went to Sean Strickland.
\nHeading into the UFC Houston main event, Hernandez looked like a
\npotential championship contender as he compiled an impressive
\neight-fight winning streak. However, he had no answers against Sean
\nStrickland, falling to the ex-champ via third-round technical
\nknockout at the Toyota Center in Houston on Feb. 21. While \u201cFluffy\u201d
\nsees his title dreams dashed in the immediate future, he still has
\ntime to build momentum toward another run at the 185-pound belt.
\nThat will begin with a showdown against dangerous Brazlian Gregory
\nRodrigues in the UFC Sacramento main event.
\nAllen was rock-solid at UFC Vegas 118, turning back the surging
\nEdmen Shahbazyan in their co-main event matchup. Faced with a foe
\ncapable of lightning-strike offense, Allen was calm, tactical and
\nfearless, showing the depth and diversity of his own striking
\narsenal, including a nasty elbow strike that cut Shahbazyan\u2019s face
\nwide open. The 30-year-old Louisiana native has now won three
\nstraight fights since suffering the only losing streak of his
\ncareer in late 2024 and early 2025, and gives every indication that
\nhis best days at middleweight might still be ahead of him.
\nBorralho relied on superior speed and athleticism to capture a
\nunanimous decision triumph over Reinier de Ridder in the UFC 326
\nco-main event on March 7 in Las Vegas. That allows the Fighting
\nNerds representative to rebound from his lone Octagon defeat: a
\nfive-round setback to Nassourdine Imavov last September. \u201cThe
\nNatural\u201d has won eight of nine UFC appearances overall.8. Joe Pyfer<\/a>
\n(16-3) | UFC [8]
\nPyfer picked up a signature win at UFC Seattle, as he finished
\nex-champ Israel Adesanya with ground-and-pound at the 4:18 mark of
\nRound 2 in their headlining bout at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle
\non March 28. The 28-year-old Pennsylvania native has won seven of
\neight Octagon appearances and seems to have improved significantly
\nsince suffering his lone UFC defeat to Jack Hermansson in February
\n2024. \u201cBodybagz\u201d should be well positioned for a high-profile
\nmatchup when he is ready to return to action.
\nDe Ridder dropped his second straight Octagon appearance at UFC
\n326, falling to Caio Borralho via unanimous decision in the
\nevening\u2019s co-headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March
\n7. After emerging as a middleweight title contender with victories
\nin his first four promotional outings, the former ONE Championship
\ntwo-division title holder\u2019s stock has fallen significantly on the
\nheels of back-to-back losses to Borralho and Brendan Allen. De
\nRidder recently announced plans to move to 205 pounds.
\nVan Steenis showed his July 2024 upset of Johnny Eblen was no
\nfluke, as he knocked out Fabian Edwards with an elbow in the third
\nround of their middleweight title bout at PFL Madrid on March 20.
\n\u201cThe Spaniard\u201d has won four straight outings \u2014 all inside the
\ndistance \u2014 since dropping a unanimous decision against Douglas Lima
\nat Bellator 296 in May 2023. While planning on facing Eblen in a
\nrematch at PFL Austin, an undisclosed injury has put him on the
\nshelf long enough for the promotion to create an interim
\nchampionship bout between Eblen and former foe Impa Kasanganay.<\/p>\n
\nEblen<\/a>, Israel
\nAdesanya<\/a>, Robert
\nWhittaker<\/a>, Michael
\nPage<\/a>, Christian
\nLeroy Duncan<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nHEAVYWEIGHT<\/a>
\nLIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT<\/a>
MIDDLEWEIGHT
\nWELTERWEIGHT<\/a>
\nLIGHTWEIGHT<\/a>
\nFEATHERWEIGHT<\/a>
\nBANTAMWEIGHT<\/a>
\nFLYWEIGHT<\/a>
\nWOMEN’S FEATHERWEIGHT<\/a>
\nWOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT<\/a>
\nWOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT<\/a>
\nWOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT<\/a>
\nWOMEN’S ATOMWEIGHT<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Brannigan\/Sherdog.com illustration Middleweight Strickland conquered the boogeyman at UFC 328, taking a hard-fought split decision triumph over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[4225,64,63,786,388665,785,44,85],"class_list":["post-813746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-https-www-sherdog-com-news-rankings-4-ufc","tag-mma","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}