UFC 328 Predictions: Chimaev vs Strickland and more

UFC 328 is pretty a loaded card this weekend (Saturday, May 9, 2026) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. There are two championship fights set to take place, a heavyweight title eliminator, and a welterweight upset potentially on the cards. Here are my predictions for every main card bout, backed by stats, odds, and analytical breakdowns.

Odds Snapshot – UFC 328 Main Card

Chimaev vs. Strickland – Main Event

Prediction: Chimaev via TKO, Rd. 3

Chimaev opened as a -400 favourite and is now priced at -590, but this fight is nowhere near as clean as those odds imply. Strickland has trained alongside Chimaev in the past, knows his tendencies better than any previous opponent, and publicly pledged to keep this standing (if he can) for all 25 minutes. The blueprint for Strickland here is simple, as he just needs to survive Chimaev’s explosive early bursts, drain his notorious cardio, and impose volume striking from Round 3 onwards.

What makes Borz dangerous isn’t just his elite wrestling (3x Swedish national freestyle champion, black belt in BJJ), but it’s how he manages to blend the grappling with dirty boxing (that’s what overwhelmed du Plessis at UFC 319). Strickland as a 185-pounder has a chin that has absorbed punishment from Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira, and Dricus du Plessis, so this won’t e a walk in the park for Chimaev.

Van vs. Taira – Flyweight Title

Prediction: Van via Decision

This is the most technically nuanced fight on the card. Tatsuro Taira’s only career loss came by decision, he has never been stopped, making Van’s finishing power something of a moot point if the fight remains competitive. Taira averages 1.6 submission attempts per 15 minutes (via UFCStats) and is simply better on the mat, so Van needs to stay upright and use his superior output (SLpM 8.84) to pile up volume rounds. I expect Van to survive, but I don’t expect it to be pretty.

UFC 328 Predictions – Full Main Card

Here are my full predictions for the main card of UFC 328, with Joaquin Buckley beating Sean Brady my upset pick of the night.

⚡ = Upset pick of the night

Jake Skudder

Jake is an SEO-minded Football, Combat Sports, Gaming and Pro Wrestling writer, successful Editor in Chief, Sports SEO Coordinator for NationalWorld and SEO Writer for F4Wonline.com. He has more than ten years of experience covering mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, football and gaming across a number of publications, starting at SEScoops in 2012 under the name Jake Jeremy. His work has also been featured on Wrestling Headlines, Wrestlingnewsco, HotNewHipHop, The Hard Times and Sportskeeda.

Previously, he worked as the Editor in Chief of 24Wrestling, building the site profile with a view to selling the domain, which was accomplished in 2019. Jake was previously the Editor in Chief for FightFans, a combat sports and pro wrestling site that was launched in January 2021 and broke into millions of pageviews within the first two years. He previously worked for Snack Media and their GiveMeSport site, creating Evergreen and Trending content that would deliver pageviews via Google as the UFC and MMA SEO Lead. Jake managed to take an area of GiveMeSport that had zero traction on Organic and push it to audiences across the globe. Jake also has a record of long-term video and written interview content with the likes of the Professional Fighters League, ONE and Cage Warriors, working directly with the brands to promote bouts, fighters and special events.

He previously worked for the (then) biggest independent wrestling company in the UK, PROGRESS Wrestling, as PR Head and Head of Media across the social channels of the company.

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