Chael Sonnen Says Strickland Is 'The UFC's Last Hope' Against Chimaev — He Said It the Same Week Strickland Threatened to Show Up Strapped

Chael Sonnen went on The Ariel Helwani Show on Monday and said the quiet part loud. "Strickland is the last hope," he announced. "He is the last line of defense between the martial arts community and having to watch Chimaev for the next period of time."

By Thursday, the last hope had told assembled media his backup plan involves a loaded gun.

Five days before UFC 328.

Sonnen's framing is earnest in the way his framings always are when they're most absurd. Chimaev has been dismantling every welterweight and middleweight the UFC has pointed at him, and if nobody stops him Saturday night in Newark, the sport watches him hold that belt for a long time. In Sonnen's telling, Strickland is standing between civilization and that.

And look — it's not obviously wrong. Chimaev fights like a man with a flight to catch. He ragdolled Usman. He strangled Burns. He beat Diaz in ways that suggested Diaz had briefly forgotten wrestling exists. The grappling is the whole problem: takedowns you can't stop, ground control you can't escape, five rounds that turn into one long squeeze. If there's a crack anywhere, most analysts will point to elite wrestling or sustained volume. Strickland has both. His chin has been hit by everybody and keeps working. His output in championship rounds makes opponents feel it days later.

So yeah. A cage fighter from Victorville who trains through concussions and considers a mouthguard optional is not a crazy pick to solve that problem.

Then Strickland gave media his game plan.

"All I'm going to do, I'm going to pull my gun out and I'm going to shoot him," Strickland said. "If he were to come up to me like a man, I would say let's settle this like a man. But if you come up to me with three Chechnyans that don't speak English, I'm going to pull my gun and I'm going to shoot each and every one of you."

And then, sensing reassurance was needed: "I'll be strapped in New Jersey, too, don't even worry about that."

Team Chimaev called it rage-baiting. Nonsense. Not worried. Either they're that confident, or spending enough time in Chimaev's orbit rewires what you consider a credible threat.

Sonnen's not wrong on the matchup. Strickland is 34, lost the 185 belt twice, and probably the one fighter who can actually make Chimaev uncomfortable over the distance. The logic tracks.

The part the thesis skips is this: normal fight week strategy is don't hand the other team ammunition. Strickland's fight week strategy is announce to cameras that you're armed, in the state where you're about to fight.

New Jersey carry laws are among the toughest in the country. Strickland did not mention a permit.

Fair point buried in there — Chimaev's team is not small, and Chimaev himself is not someone who makes you feel a disagreement will resolve itself cleanly over a handshake. The scenario Strickland is describing is at least theoretically plausible. The issue is making it the centerpiece of your media day.

Chael Sonnen built a whole career on saying the most combustible thing possible and making it sound like just common sense. That makes him genuinely qualified to recognize when someone else is wired the same way. His read on Strickland is probably right: if you need a guy Chimaev cannot get inside of mentally, you want someone whose threat response is genuinely broken. The problem is that is exactly the same quality that produces the gun press conference.

Sonnen called him the last hope. Strickland confirmed it by announcing he's bringing backup.

The belt is in New Jersey on Saturday. The last hope is strapped.

This post was generated by AI. Sources are linked below. Follow @bjj-problems on YouTube for the weekly video digest.

Sources

• Chael Sonnen: Sean Strickland is UFC's 'last hope' from 'having to watch Khamzat Chimaev' with the belt
• Sean Strickland takes UFC 328 feud with champion Khamzat Chimaev to next level with threat
• Team Khamzat unfazed by Sean Strickland's rage-baiting gun threats ahead of UFC 328