5 Fights We Need to See After UFC 328

Very few people saw it coming, but Sean Strickland is once again the UFC middleweight champion.

Strickland reclaimed the middleweight belt in the main event of Saturday's UFC 328 card in Newark, defeating Khamzat Chimaev with a razor-close decision, ending the unbeaten Chechen's long expected title reign as quickly as it began. His shocking upset victory changes everything at middleweight. Ahead of time, Chimaev seemed just about unbeatable, and had also been teasing plans to move up to light heavyweight. With Strickland back on the throne, there is renewed hope for the division's many dangerous contenders. Who actually gets the first crack at the new middleweight king, however, remains to be seen.

There was also a title up for grabs in the UFC 328 co-headliner, as Joshua Van defended the flyweight belt with a late stoppage of Japanese challenger Tatsuro Taira. It was a crucial win for the champion, as it helped legitimize a title reign that begin with a quick and flukey win over Alexandre Pantoja last year.

Outside the title fights, the other big winners from UFC 328 included Alexander Volkov, who defeated Waldo Cortes-Acosta by decision at heavyweight, and Sean Brady, who rebounded from a brutal loss to Michael Morales by defeating Joaquin Buckley by decision at welterweight.

Here are the fights we'd like to see next for Strickland, Van, Volkov and Brady, as well as the matchup we'd like to see next for a rebounding Chimaev.

Sean Strickland vs. Nassourdine Imavov

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Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev's UFC 328 fight was preceded by tons of virulent trash talk from both men. As it turns out, it was all totally bogus, but it served the intended purpose: it turned their matchup into one of the biggest title fights in recent memory. As such, whatever comes next will probably feel a little underwhelming by comparison.

At this point, the obvious next challenger for the middleweight belt is France's Nassourdine Imavov. While he does have a loss to Strickland on his record, he is now riding five straight wins, including a knockout of Israel Adesanya and a decision defeat of Caio Borralho. Truth be told, he probably deserved the title opportunity before Strickland, but was passed up because he's far less popular among fans.

Now that Strickland is back on the throne, a rematch makes a ton of sense, even if it feels a little lacklustre after the UFC 328 main event. Former champ Dricus Du Plessis might not like it, as he holds two recent wins over Strickland, and surely wants to reclaim the belt, but he hasn't fought since losing to Chimaev, and needs to get back in the win column before he fights the new champ again.

Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa

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From the moment Khamzat Chimaev stepped onto the scale to weigh in for UFC 328, there was widespread concern that he'd had a bad weight cut, and that he might be compromised as a consequence. While there's no way to know how much his weight cut affected him, his long-discussed plans to move up to light heavyweight seem a lot more sensible after his tepid performance on Saturday.

If Chimaev does move up to light heavyweight, the potential matchups are almost endless, and given the prevalence of strikers in the division, he figures to do quite well with his world-class wrestling. Of all the potential fights available, though, the best is clearly a clash with Paulo Costa.

Costa, a former middleweight himself, recently made a big splash in his move up to light heavyweight, knocking out undefeated contender Azamat Murzakanov. Before and after that beautiful performance—easily his best in years—he has called for a clash with Chimaev.

Ahead of UFC 328, the matchup seemed somewhat pointless. As good as Costa looked against Murzakanov, it was very hard to picture him beating Chimaev. After Chimaev's loss to Strickland, however, his aura of invincibility has vanished completely. He'd still have a good chance to beat Costa, but it's definitely not the sure thing it previously seemed to be. One way or the other, it's bound to be an excellent fight, and the lead-up would be very entertaining too.

Joshua Van vs. Alexandre Pantoja

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Joshua Van's thrilling stoppage victory over a very game Tatsuro Taira did a lot to legitimize his reign as flyweight king. While there's never been any doubt he's extremely talented, his title-winning defeat of Alexandre Pantoja, the product of a quick arm injury, was very dubious. He really needed a performance like this to help validate his status as the division's top dog.

After the win, Van has options. The winner of an upcoming clash between former Rizin and Bellator champ Kyoji Horiguchi and Manel Kape will be in prime position to challenge him, and both men are definitely capable of beating him, despite how good he looked on Saturday.

However, the just choice is still to give Pantoja a shot at redemption. He was in the midst of a very dominant title reign before losing to Van, and assuming the arm injury that ended their first meeting in mere seconds has healed, it's only fair to match them up again. We known Pantoja wants it, and Van has made it clear he's on board too.

If Pantoja needs more time to recover, the Horiguchi vs. Kape winner is the obvious next choice. Whatever the case, it's great that the champ has options. This division used to be starved for real contenders. Those days are long over.

Alexander Volkov vs. Hokit-Lewis winner

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It's not easy being Alexander Volkov right now. The Russian, a former Bellator champ, reaffirmed himself as a top heavyweight contender with a decision win over Waldo Cortes-Acosta at UFC 328. Unfortunately, circumstances just about guarantee he'll continue to be deprived of a title opportunity.

To recap, the undisputed UFC heavyweight title is currently the property of England's Tom Aspinall, who would certainly love to defend his belt as soon as possible, but is still recovering from a couple of brutal eye pokes he sustained in a fight with Ciryl Gane. As he heals up from eye surgery, the UFC has introduced an interim heavyweight title, which will be up for grabs when Alex Pereira takes on Gane at UFC Freedom 250 next month. While it's certainly possible Volkov will get a crack at the Pereira-Gane winner, which would actually be the perfect option if Aspinall needs more time to recover, it's more likely the new interim champ and undisputed champ unify their titles toward the end of the year. If that's the way things go, Volkov will need to fight somebody else, and the winner of Josh Hokit vs. Derek Lewis is the obvious choice.

Hokit and Lewis will also fight at UFC Freedom 250. If Hokit wins, he'll be in a similar situation to Volkov, as a worthy title challenger forced to wait his turn. If Lewis wins, he'll still be some distance from a title shot, but he holds a dramatic, come-from-behind win over Volkov, so there's some history between them. Either way, we get a sensible and compelling matchup that will keep Volkov busy while the heavyweight title situation sorts out. It's probably not what he wants, but it's the best choice for him right now.

Sean Brady vs. Yaroslav Amosov

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Sean Brady looked as good as ever in his lopsided decision win over Joaquin Buckley at UFC 328. Unfortunately, his recent knockout loss to Michael Morales means he still has more work to do if he's going to put himself in title contention, particularly with so many contenders awaiting a shot at champ Islam Makhachev.

After UFC 328, we'd like to see Brady matched up with Ukraine's Yaroslav Amosov.

Amosov is a new face in the UFC, but is a former Bellator champion, and sports a ridiculous 30-1 professional record. He also fought at UFC 328, improving to 2-0 in the Octagon with an extremely impressive decision defeat of the dangerous Joel Alvarez.

Amosov is currently ranked No. 14 at welterweight, considerably below the sixth-ranked Brady. That being said, he's likely to rise a bit after beating Buckley, and is one of the few fighters in the welterweight division with grappling skill on par with Brady's. In fact, he might be even more dangerous on the ground. He also expressed interest in fighting the American after his win.

It's an excellent matchup between two very strong contenders who still need to do a little bit more to get where they want to be. It would make a great addition to any upcoming card in the States, but would also fit well on one of the promotion's planned stops in Europe, such as its August 1 debut in Serbia.