NewsBite

UFC 297: Dricus Du Plessis beats Sean Strickland to win middleweight title

Bloodied, battered and bruised, Dricus du Plessis is the new middleweight champion after defeating Sean Strickland - but UFC boss Dana White scored the fight differently.

Brendan Bradford in Toronto
12 min read
January 21, 2024 - 7:18PM
UFC 297 - Pro-Sean Strickland crowd chanting "F*** Trudeau"

Newly minted middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has set up a mouth-watering world title showdown with former champ Israel Adesanya – possibly at UFC 300, or even in Africa.

Meanwhile, deposed champion Sean Strickland claimed he was caught by a headbutt during his grueling loss to du Plessis.

Du Plessis became South Africa’s first UFC champion with a dramatic split-decision win over the controversial Strickland at UFC 297 in Toronto.

Du Plessis wasted no time in calling out his rival Adesanya, after the pair had a viral in-Octagon encounter following the South African’s win over Robert Whittaker last July.

“Another guy tried to take my shine,” he said of Adesanya. “He lost his shine, now I have the shine.

“Adesanya, get your ass back in the UFC so we can settle the score!”

Speaking to this masthead, du Plessis said he’d love an Adesanya fight to happen, “On South African soil”, but also left the door open to fighting at UFC 300 in April in what would be one of the most hotly anticipated middleweight title fights ever.

Both men raise their arm after teh fight. Picture: Vaughn Ridley/GETTY
Both men raise their arm after teh fight. Picture: Vaughn Ridley/GETTY

“I’m banged up now, but I’m up for another round right now,” he said. “I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but UFC 300 sounds amazing.

“It’s nothing personal at all (with Adesanya). It’s just a fight the fans want to see.

“If the fans don’t want to see Adesanya versus du Plessis, that’s fine, but that’s a fight that’s gonna get a lot of people excited.”

Strickland took to social media in the hour after the fight, claiming he’d been hit with an illegal shot.

“Man that headbutt really made it difficult to see but I thought we got the job done,” he Tweeted. “Blood and all!!! Onto the next one!!!

“Thanks everyone who supported me!!!!!!”

Du Plessis denied the former champion’s claim.

“I can’t say that I did, that’s the first I’m hearing of it,” he said during his post-fight press conference. “I can’t remember any headbutt.”

UFC president Dana White revealed he scored the UFC 297 main event for Strickland, and said that a rematch makes sense in the future.

“I had it 2-2 going into the last, and I thought Strickland won the last round,” he said.

“It was a close fight. I thought Strickland was great in the first two rounds, the jab was beautiful – you don’t see jabs like that in MMA.

“Eventually these two are going to fight again for sure.”

There had been rumours the winner of the Strickland-du Plessis grudge match would fight Adesanya at UFC 300, and Stylebender was originally slated to be in attendance in Toronto this week.

White wouldn’t be drawn into speculation about if that would happen, but said du Plessis is, “Absolutely, positively the guy,” to headline the UFC’s debut show in Africa when the promotion eventually heads there.

While the big implications from an Australian perspective were at the top of the card in the middleweight division, a future contender for Alex Volkanovski’s featherweight crown emerged earlier in the night.

Undefeated Russian phenom Movsar Evloev is coming.

Ranked ninth heading into UFC 297, Evloev will make some big moves after scoring a unanimous decision win over the third ranked Arnold Allen.

Now 18-0, Evloev immediately turned his attention to Volkanovski, who has a featherweight title defence against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 next month.

“Let’s see who wins out of Alex and Ilia,” Evloev said immediately after his win. “And I want the winner.”

DRAKE CURSE STRIKES STRICKLAND

Strickland may have a quiet word with hometown hero Drake at the event’s afterparty after the ‘Drizzy’ curse claimed another victim.

The Toronto native confirmed to his 145 million Instagram followers that he’ll be at Scotiabank Arena tonight, while sharing a betting slip for the main event.

Drake has chucked a wild $700,000 on Sean Strickland to beat Dricus du Plessis at $1.97 for a possible total payout of $1,379,000,000.

The pair walk away without a belt and $700,000 lighter.

RE-LIVE ALL THE ACTION FROM UFC 297 BELOW

4.50PM: NEW BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMP CROWNED

Raquel Pennington is the new women’s bantamweight champion of the world, claiming the belt vacated by Amanda Nunes with a unanimous decision win over Mayra Bueno Silva.

It’s a crowning achievement for Pennington in her second title fight, and after more than a decade in the sport, but was also a stark reminder for UFC fans about what they’re missing with Nunes’ retirement.

Put bluntly, it failed to set the world on fire, with the crowd switching between boos, boredom and chants of “F**k Trudeau”.

Pennington is a deserving champion and a pioneer for women’s MMA, but was forced to sit through boos from the crowd as Bruce Buffer read out the scorecards.

“I came out here and expected to do a lot more, but a fight’s a fight,” Pennington said afterwards.

“(My corner) just said, ‘I don’t care if you’re getting booed, just go out there and get it done’ and that’s what I did.

“It’s not as easy as people think, especially against another professional in there.”

Pennington attempted two takedowns in the opening round, but couldn’t get them to stick, before Bueno Silva landed her first, and finished the round in a dominant position.

Not afraid to let the fighters know what they’re thinking, the impatient Toronto crowd broke out in boos in the second, with a few more “F**k Trudeau” chants thrown in as well.

Bueno Silva came close to earning a submission, nearly locking in a rear-naked choke at the close of the second round.

Bueno Silva nearly had another RNC in the fourth, but lost the position and Pennington spent more than two minutes wailing away with ground and pound.

Pennington continued in that fashion in the fifth and final round, looking for a finish with an arm triangle against the clearly gassed Bueno Silva.

4PM: IT’S A BAD DAY TO BE A CANADIAN

It’s been a historically bad day for Canada’s male fighters.

They had six male fighters on the card, and all of them lost, with local boy Mike Malott stopped in brutal fashion in the third round by Neil Magny.

Malott had arguably won the first two rounds, but was taken down midway through the third, before Magny landed some vicious ground-and-pound.

The referee let the beating go on for at least 10 seconds too long before waving it off with 15 seconds left.

A badly beaten Malott remained flat on his back for a minute, and was assessed by cageside medicos while sitting on a stool.

The 32-year-old crowd favourite was unable to stand up next to Magny when Bruce Buffer made the result official, and was assisted from the cage by his corner.

It capped off a shocking day for Canada’s male fighters – although their women scored two impressive wins.

Canada’s Brad Katona trades punches with Garrett Armfield. Picture: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images/AFP
Canada’s Brad Katona trades punches with Garrett Armfield. Picture: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images/AFP

The rot set in early, from the very first fight of the night, with Calgary’s Malcolm Gordon submitted in the second round.

Yohan Lainesse, from Quebec, tapped out in the first, while Serhiy Sidey, Charles Jourdain and Marc-Andre Barriault all dropped split decisions.

Depending on how you swing it, Canada’s men may have gone 0-7, with Winnipeg-born Brad Katona also dropping a decision. Katona now trains and lives in Ireland though.

The Canadian women on the other hand couldn’t be stopped.

Jasmine Jasudavicius scored one of the most one-sided beatdowns you’ll ever see after her opponent Priscila Cachoeira missed weight by 10 pounds.

Born in Ontario, Gillian Robertson Polyana Viana on the way to a second round submission win.

2.55PM: VOLKANOVSKI IN CROSSHAIRS

Rising featherweight phenom Movsar Evloev has called out Alex Volkanovski for a title fight later this year, provided the Aussie gets past Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 next month.

Ranked ninth in the division going into UFC 297 this weekend, Evloev improved his undefeated record to 18-0 with a unanimous decision win over England’s Arnold Allen.

The result will see the Russian climb rapidly up the rankings, and he already has his eyes on the title.

“Let’s see who wins out of Alex and Ilia,” Evloev said immediately after his win. “And I want the winner.”

Evloev’s win wasn’t without controversy though.

In the third round, Allen had Evloev by the head, and directed a series of heavy knees to his ear.

Evloev attempted to place his hand on the canvas, meaning he would be deemed a “grounded” fighter and that it would be illegal for Allen to kick or knee him in the head.

Allen tried to lift Evloev’s hand off the mat as he launched his knees, but at least one was definitely illegal, before referee Mark Goddard called a timeout.

The shots caused a big cut to Evloev’s head, and there were massive boos around the arena as it was unclear whether the knees were really illegal.

Many felt the momentary stoppage in action gave Evloev the chance to recover and win the bout.

1.45PM: BRUCE BUFFER CONTROVERSY

Octagon legend Bruce Buffer is at the centre of a UFC 297 controversy after massive confusion surrounding the winner of the featherweight bout between Sean Woodson and Canadian favourite Charles Jourdain.

After three closely contested rounds, it went to the scorecards, with the judges returning a split decision.

When it came time for Buffer to reveal Woodson as the winner, his pronounciation of “Sean” sounded exactly the same as you’d say “Charles”.

Having thought they heard “Charles”, Jourdain’s corner and the vast majority of the Toronto crowd began celebrating.

Woodson also thought he’d lost, and was about to walk out of the Octagon when commentator Daniel Cormier grabbed his arm and told him he’d won.

“It sounded like Charles, but Sean Woodson won the fight,” DC said.

Cheers immediately turned to deafening boos as the near-capacity crowd realised their man had lost.

1.30PM: CANADIAN PM COPS IT FROM CROWD

The heavily pro-Strickland crowd keeps breaking into chants of: “F**k Trudeau”.

Strickland has waged an anti-Trudeau campaign all week, taking aim at the Canadian Prime Minister for various things.

Strickland was on a rant about Trudeau when he ripped into a local journalist during his media day press conference. Strickland asked the reporter who he voted for, and when the journo refused to answer, the middleweight champion went in.

It ended with Strickland calling the scribe “an infection. You are the definition of weakness,” before telling him to “f**k off”.

1PM: CROWD FAVOURITE ROBBED?

Serhiy Sidey and Ramon Taveras was always going to be fireworks, and they didn’t disappoint in a bloody three-round war.

The pair have history, and their scrap was one for the ages.

The controversy between them began last September when Sidey won a controversial first round knockout on Dana White’s Contender Series.

Serhiy Sidey’s nose looked broken early on. Picture: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Serhiy Sidey’s nose looked broken early on. Picture: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

After flooring Taveras early, Sidey went for the finish, but the ref waved it off far too early, leaving Taveras furious.

There were more turbulent times to come in fight week, with Taveras missing weight by a ridiculous 4.75 pounds and the bout being switched to a catchweight.

It was all action when they finally stepped into the Octagon, as they traded back and forth in a bout that remained a standing slugfest for the whole 15 minutes.

Both bloodied and battered, they hugged at the final siren before Taveras scored revenge for his DWCS loss with a split decision win with scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29.

As boos rained down at Scotiabank Arena, and social media immediately dubbed the result a robbery, Taveras apologised for missing weight, and raised the possibility of a third fight with Sidey.

Sign us up!

11:35AM: BLOODY WAR IGNITES UFC 297

Jasmine Jasudavicius claimed a bloody and brutal form of revenge with a one-sided domination of Priscila Cachoeira in the second fight of the night.

There was extra spice added to the bout after Cachoeira was unable to make weight.

And it wasn’t close. The Brazilian knew she was way off the 125-pound flyweight limit two days before the fight, and the UFC eventually changed the weightclass to bantamweight - a full 10 pounds higher.

By weigh-in day, Cachoeira weighed 133.5 pounds, to Jasudavicius’ 133 pounds.

Priscila Cachoeira was left a bloodied, beaten mess. Picture: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Priscila Cachoeira was left a bloodied, beaten mess. Picture: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Their teams exchanged heated words in the weigh-in room too, but by fight night, at was all one way traffic, with Jasudavicius putting on one of the most one-sided beatdowns ever.

The Ontario fighter absolutely dominated the opening round, landing a takedown in the first minute and dishing out some brutal ground and pound for the next four.

Cachoeira was left a bloody, bruised mess after just five minutes.

A perfectly timed right hand dropped Cachoeira just 25 seconds into the second round and Jasudavicius resumed her dominant position.

The Canadian landed dozens more shots to the head and face, and attempted two submissions but couldn’t find the finish.

The cageside doctor assessed Cachoeira before the start of the third round, and her team probably could have waved it off.

Another takedown in the third spelled yet more trouble for Cachoeira, and Jasudavicius was finally able to force the submission with an Anaconda Choke.

Jasudavicius confirmed she was looking to make Cachoeira pay in the Octagon.

“It made me frustrated,” she said of Cachoeira’s all-time weight miss. “We’re professionals, we’re in a professional organisation.

“Get your shit together.”

One way traffic. Picture: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
One way traffic. Picture: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

10:50am -

The NFL might have Taylor Swift making regular appearances to watch Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs, but the UFC has some big time pulling power, with hometown hero Drake set to make a cageside appearance.

Drake shared this to his IG story. Picture: Instagram
Drake shared this to his IG story. Picture: Instagram

But, he might have just cursed the main event.

Toronto’s own, Drizzy, confirmed to his 145 million Instagram followers that he’ll be at Scotiabank Arena tonight, while sharing a betting slip for the main event.

Drake has chucked a wild $700,000 on Sean Strickland to beat Dricus du Plessis at $1.97 for a possible total payout of $1,379,000,000.

Nice if you can get it.

It’s a vote of confidence in Strickland, who has been an overwhelming fan favourite this week, but he’ll need to break the ‘Drake Curse’ to reclaim the middleweight title.

One of social media’s most enduring memes, Drake has a long history of backing the loser, including Conor McGregor against Khabib Nurmagomedov and a string of NBA, NFL and college football games.

10:40am - Spare a thought for American Jimmy Flick, who is fighting Canada’s Malcolm Gordon. Flick hoped to win over the locals by walking out to Drake.

They booed even louder.

What time does UFC 297 start?

The early prelims start at 10:30am AEDT (9:30am AEST, 7:30am AWST)

The prelims kick off at 12pm AEDT (11am AEST, 9am AWST)

The PPV portion of the card gets underway at 2pm AEDT (1pm AEST, 11am AWST)

How much does a UFC PPV cost?

UFC pay per views cost $59.95, so, there’s no change in pricing.

Do I need a Kayo subscription to buy a UFC PPV?

No. You do not need to be a Kayo subscriber to buy a UFC pay per view on Kayo Sports.

Do I need another subscription to watch UFC on Kayo?

No. If you’re an existing Kayo subscriber, you can just purchase the PPV as normal.

Will there be more ads on Kayo and Foxtel?

No! The PPV live stream will be exactly the same as what you’re used to, with no extra ads during the broadcast.

How do I watch the UFC prelims now?

Fight Pass prelims and the preliminary card are still available on Fight Pass, but you’ll have to switch to Kayo, Main Event or Foxtel when the PPV portion of the event begins.

You can also watch all the early prelim fights on Kayo, Main Event and Foxtel too.

Can I still watch UFC PPVs on UFC Fight Pass?

No. UFC PPVs are only available on Kayo Sports, Main Event and Foxtel.

What can I still watch on UFC Fight Pass?

Although PPVs aren’t available to watch on Fight Pass in Australia anymore, you still get access to the full Fight Pass library of fights and shows.

You’ll also still be able to watch non-PPV events via UFC Fight Pass.

Alex Volkanovski’s featherweight title defence against Ilia Topuria will also be exclusive available on Kayo, Main Event and Foxtel. Picture: Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Alex Volkanovski’s featherweight title defence against Ilia Topuria will also be exclusive available on Kayo, Main Event and Foxtel. Picture: Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

UFC 297 full fight card

PPV Card

Middleweight – Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis

Women’s Bantamweight – Raquel Pennington vs. Mayra Bueno Silva

Welterweight – Neil Magny vs. Mike Malott

Middleweight – Chris Curtis vs. Marc-Andre Barriault

Featherweight – Arnold Allen vs. Movsar Evloev

Prelim Card 

Bantamweight – Brad Katona vs. Garrett Armfield

Featherweight – Charles Jourdain vs. Sean Woodson

Bantamweight – Serhiy Sidey vs. Ramon Taveras

Women’s strawweight – Gillian Robertson vs. Polyana Viana

Early Prelim Card

Welterweight – Yohan Lainesse vs. Sam Patterson

Women’s flyweight – Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Priscilla Cachoeira

Flyweight – Malcolm Gordon vs. Jimmy Flick

Originally published as UFC 297: Dricus Du Plessis beats Sean Strickland to win middleweight title

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/ufc/how-to-watch-ufc-297-ufc-signs-exclusive-ppv-broadcast-deal-with-kayo-sports-main-event-and-foxtel/news-story/44312fd4b632d761616e315b07cf3924