The Ultimate Fighting Championship 297 took place last Saturday on Jan. 20 at Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto. This fight was the one UFC fans were anxiously waiting for, determining who would continue to hold the UFC middleweight championship title. Fighters Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis walked into the cage with the mindset of winning that belt. Strickland gained the stance of UFC middleweight champion back in September 2023 but was struck down from his pedestal on his first defense against the number two fighter, Du Plessis, this past weekend.
There has been much controversy over the split decision which resulted in the fight. Now, I know there is also a lot of public opinion on who is the better fighter overall, but that is not what I am here to talk about. I am specifically talking about UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis. Right off the bat, looking at both fighters, we can see they have a lot of similarities. Close in age, same height, same reach and Strickland holds a whopping half pound over Du Plessis when it comes to weight. These two could basically be twins.
Now, UFC fights can get redundant, so I’m going to focus on the highlights of each round. Round one was quite competitive; you could feel the tension flying between each fighter. Strickland came in with a strong jab (pushing through with power from his shoulder) and constant contact throughout the five minutes. Du Plessis landed two takedowns in this round and gave a gnarly head kick, but I would say what really caught a lot of fans’ attention would be the lead hand and control of Strickland the entire five minutes. Du Plessis’ takedowns were solid, but not enough to give him control over Strickland. Round one, I would give to Strickland.
Round two continues with Strickland landing his jabs, to the point where you could see it in Du Plessis’ face, swelling up his left eye. However, Du Plessis landed yet another takedown, making him successful in three of his four attempts at this point. Both fighters nailed in a good amount of body shots and put up a good defense. But Du Plessis’ takedown on road two put Strickland on his butt and pinned him right on the cage and you got to give him points for that. Though it was a close round, probably the closest of the fight, I would have to give the round to Du Plessis.
Once round three started, Du Plessis began to diversify his hits. He kept on pushing action and bringing out the offense. Strickland is known for being dangerous when pressing forward, so Du Plessis stopped that from happening. With every second passing, Du Plessis was getting closer and closer to hitting Strickland hard, but the hit never happened. The man was changing it up with every second: kick, head, body, head, kick and now spin. To be honest, Du Plessis was kind of fun to watch; it would have been more exciting if more of these moves landed, but it works at throwing Strickland off. Because of Strickland’s constant back-peddling, round three would go to du Plessis.
The fourth round of this fight was the first round four Du Plessis entered in his career. It started out terribly when Strickland found success with his right-hand hits in the first 90 seconds of the round. But let’s not forget that at that point, Strickland was dripping blood from Du Plessis’ various shots from before. A big controverse on this fight is whether du Plessis headbutted Strickland in this round. Now, if you play back the fight in slow motion, you can see at minute marker 4:31 the punch that caused Strickland’s bleeding. You can even see blood leaking at marker 4:23, right before the so-called headbutt. As for this “headbutt” itself, it looked more like du Plessis went around Strickland’s left side, which is just grazing his face when it compares to the headbutts I’ve given my sister. Du Plessis then had another takedown, and I know takedowns don’t score points, but you must admit it is no easy task, and it gave Du Plessis a good amount of control time. Du Plessis also landed his right hand on Strickland’s face multiple times in this round, convincing me he took it this time.
The fifth round of the fight is a brutal one. Strickland used his jab consistently until the end. I think this is where he really picked up the pace, especially since it was the fifth round. At this point, both fighters are bruised, bleeding, and tired. But I would say at the 30 second mark is when Strickland really takes this round in his favor. He throws punches and they land more consistently than Du Plessis’. In the last 10 seconds of round five, Strickland keeps pushing Du Plessis back more and more with purpose and precision to the final seconds. I would give this round to Strickland, hands down.
All in all, the big fight among UFC fans was whether Du Plessis deserved to win the title or not. But when I replayed this bad boy, slow motion and all, the highlights were reviewed and considered. When looking at it overall, you cannot say that significant strikes and control were not seen. The split decision was made correctly; Du Plessis won UFC 297. Yes, it was an extremely close fight, with hits coming in on both sides; it could have gone to either one. I would give rounds one and five to Strickland; rounds two, three and four go to Du Plessis. Now the thing is, I will give the angered Strickland fans a bone and say this fight was so close for a title winner, he put up a solid fight, and I am sure it is disappointing losing the title in split decision.
But with Du Plessis’ pressure throughout the fight and his limited step backs, it must be in his favor. Dricus Du Plessis has started his reign, and it’ll be interesting to see how long he lasts. Who knows, there could be a rematch in the future.
Presley Zimmerman can be reached at [email protected]