Sean Strickland Confirms Nassourdine Imavov Title Fight December 12, Pay Still Being Worked Out

Confirmed by Strickland

• Opponent: Nassourdine Imavov
• Stakes: UFC middleweight championship
• Status: purses still being negotiated

Locked on the calendar

• Event: UFC 335
• Date: Saturday, December 12, 2026
• Venue: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas

Not official yet

• UFC graphic, press release, or ticketed fight-week schedule
• Final purse numbers
• Co-main and rest of the card

UFC rankings pages already list Imavov as Strickland’s next opponent at UFC 335. That is how the matchmakers have it internally. The remaining friction is money, not matchmaking.

Why This Rematch Exists

This is not a random number-one contender booking. It is unfinished business with a personal edge.

The first meeting was January 14, 2023, at UFC Vegas 67. Imavov was supposed to fight Kelvin Gastelum at middleweight. Gastelum pulled out. Strickland took the fight on five days’ notice at light heavyweight and won a unanimous decision, 49-46, 49-46, 48-47. He outlanded Imavov with volume and pressure. Imavov never forgot the night — or the comments that followed.

Imavov has said the rematch is “very personal.” He has accused Strickland of insults that went past standard fight-week talk, including remarks during Strickland’s camp against Chimaev. Strickland’s public posture has swung from “I’ve already beaten you” to accepting the title fight once he had the belt again. That is the arc: a short-notice Apex decision in 2023 becomes a five-round title fight in a stadium in 2026.

How Both Men Got Here

Sean Strickland (c), 31-7

• Reclaimed the middleweight title from Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 on May 9, 2026, by split decision (48-47, 48-47, 47-48).
• First won the belt in September 2023 by upsetting Israel Adesanya at UFC 293.
• Lost it to Dricus du Plessis, then rebuilt through the division and beat Chimaev in Newark.
• Style: high-volume orthodox boxing, jab, forward pressure, durable chin, limited wrestling threat.

This will be his first title defense of the second reign. Reports around fight week also had him targeting a December return after post-Chimaev recovery. December 12 fits that window.

Nassourdine Imavov, 17-4 (1 NC)

• Ranked No. 3 at middleweight.
• Five-fight win streak since the Strickland loss: Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier, Brendan Allen, Israel Adesanya, Caio Borralho.
• Told the UFC he wanted a stay-busy fight with du Plessis. The company told him to wait for the belt.
• Nickname: “The Sniper.” Southpaw kickboxing, range, counters, improving five-round pace.

He has sat for more than a year waiting on this shot. That layoff is the one real question mark on his side. Five straight wins look different after 12-plus months off.

Why Pay Is the Holdup

Strickland talking about salary in public is not a throwaway line. Title-fight purses at this level are a negotiation, not a posted rate card.

Champions typically fight on a flat guarantee plus PPV points. Challengers get a bump from their last non-title payday, plus the title-challenger compliance fee. Strickland has been vocal for years that UFC pay is predatory and that short-notice bumps are the only real leverage most fighters have. He is now the champion. He has leverage. Imavov has waited a year and holds the cleaner contender résumé. Both sides have a reason to stall for a number.

Until those numbers close, the UFC will not print the poster. That is normal. It is also why “confirmed” and “officially announced” are not the same sentence.

The Stylistic Question That Matters

The 2023 fight is a poor template if you copy it blindly.

That night was light heavyweight, five days of camp for Strickland, and Imavov giving up size. This night is 185 pounds, a full camp, a championship round structure, and an Imavov who has beaten Cannonier and Adesanya since then.

What still transfers:

• Strickland’s jab and output will try to turn this into a marching boxing match.
• Imavov has to make Strickland miss and pay — calf kicks, southpaw straight, clinch elbows — without getting drawn into a high-volume phone booth.
• Five rounds favor the man who can keep his shape after minute 15. Strickland has proven that repeatedly. Imavov’s last year of inactivity cuts the other way.

The unique layer: emotion. Imavov has already said he wants to “rip his head off.” Strickland sells chaos. Title fights that get personal often get sloppy. The fighter who treats this as a boxing match, not a grudge clip, is the one who wins a decision. The one who hunts a highlight risks giving the other man the opening he did not have in 2023.

Who Got Passed Over

Booking Imavov means two other names wait.

• Khamzat Chimaev lost the belt by split decision and has asked for an immediate rematch. Dana White has not granted it. Chimaev has also floated a move up in weight after a difficult 185-pound cut.
• Dricus du Plessis already beat Strickland for the title once and is back in the win column. He is the cleaner “we’ve seen this movie” option. The UFC is saving that for later if Strickland survives December.

Imavov’s claim is activity-plus-promise: he did the contender work, he was told to wait, and he has a loss to avenge at the right weight. That is a coherent number-one-contender argument. It is not the only one.