The first UFC pay-per-view show of 2024 is in the books as UFC 297 just wrapped up in the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada with American middleweight champ Sean Strickland taking on South African contender Dricus Du Plessis in the main event.
The fighters were extremely evenly-matched and the championship bout ended up going the distance, with Du Plessis becoming the new champ after five hard rounds after taking home a razor-thin split decision victory.
Strickland used his snappy jab as well as leg kicks and push kicks to the body, while also displaying solid defense. However, the challenger Du Plessis put constant pressure on the champ and while it wasn’t always pretty, he did land some pretty good strikes and also mixed in his wrestling from time to time.
Both fighters did some damage to each other with Strickland getting cut over his eye while Du Plessis got a swollen eye. Looking at the stats, most of the rounds were very close with similar number of strikes in most of the rounds.
In the end, the official scores were 48-47 Sean Strickland as well as a couple of 48-47 scores to Dricus Du Plessis who’s now the new UFC middleweight champion.
UFC 297: Official results for Sean Strickland vs Dricus Du Plessis and more
In the co-main event, Raquel Pennington defeated Mayra Bueno Silva by unanimous decision to capture the vacant women’s bantamweight championship.
Furthermore, top 15 ranked veteran Neil Magny stopped Canadian prospect Mike Malott by third-round TKO in an incredible comeback victory on the main card.
Check out the official UFC 297 results down below!
Main card:
- Dricus Du Plessis def. Sean Strickland via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
- Raquel Pennington def. Mayra Bueno Silva via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45) – to win vacant
- Neil Magny def. Mike Malott via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:45
- Chris Curtis def. Marc-Andre Barriault via split decision (30-27, 28–29, 30-27)
- Movsar Evloev def. Arnold Allen via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Prelims:
- Garrett Armfield def. Brad Katona via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Sean Woodson def. Charles Jourdain via split decision (29-28, 28–29, 29-28)
- Ramon Taveras def. Serhiy Sidey via split decision (29-28, 28–29, 29-28)
- Gillian Robertson def. Polyana Viana via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:12
- Sam Patterson def. Yohan Lainesse via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:03
- Jasmine Jasudavicius def. Priscila Cachoeira via submission (anaconda choke) – Round 3, 4:21
- Jimmy Flick def. Malcolm Gordon via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 1:17
UFC 297 post-fight bonuses:
- Fight of the Night: Sean Strickland vs Dricus Du Plessis
- Performance of the Night: Gillian Robertson
- Performance of the Night: Jasmine Jasudavicius
Check out the UFC 297 post-fight press conference down below!
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