Middleweight Main event
Sean Strickland Dricus Du Plessis 28-6-0 21-2-0 Decision – R 05:00
Dricus Du Plessis claims victory over Sean Strickland in an entertaining, bloody, back-and-forth fight in the main event of UFC 297 here at Scotiabank Arena Saturday night. The result was a split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) for Du Plessis.
Du Plessis said, “This is history, he called Strickland’s jab “super, super, super” good. “It feels like somebody hits you with a rock, it’s very deceptive when he throws the jab, and he can turn it into a left hook. He does that really, really well.
Strickland had a lot of success early in the fight with a nasty, piston-like jab. Du Plessis not only struggled to defend it but had trouble getting off his offense due to that.
Judges Eric Colon and Derek Cleary had Du Plessis winning the second, third, and fourth rounds. Judge Sal D’Amato, the lone judge scoring it for Strickland, and Strickland won the first, third, and fifth rounds.
Du Plessis vs. Strickland was the first UFC middleweight title fight without Adesanya since 2017. Saturday marked the fourth straight UFC middleweight title fight in which the belt changed hands. Alex Pereira beat Isreal Adesanya in 2022 and Adesanya won the title back from Pereira last April before dropping the title to Strickland last September 2023.
Although Strickland lost, he still landed more total strikes (183-140) and significant strikes (173-137).
