TORONTO — Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis got into a fight in the crowd last month in Las Vegas. This weekend, they step into the Octagon against one another in earnest.
Strickland will defend his UFC middleweight title against Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 297 on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena. The two got into a heated back-and-forth at a news conference in December and then subsequently got into a scuffle in the stands during UFC 296.
For the most part, this week has been devoid of any drama between the two men, which mutual respect being exchanged. The beef might have been squashed, but the fisticuffs will be legitimate Saturday night.
ESPN has Du Plessis ranked No. 2 and Strickland ranked No. 5 in the world at middleweight.
Strickland (28-5) pulled off a major upset over then-champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September, winning by one-sided unanimous decision. The California native, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, has won three in a row. Strickland, 32, has won nine of his last 11 fights. Du Plessis (20-2) has won eight straight and has a perfect 6-0 record in the UFC. The South African fighter stopped former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker via TKO last July at UFC 290. Du Plessis, 30, is a former champion in EFC and KSW.
In the co-main event at UFC 297, Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva will compete for the vacant UFC women’s bantamweight title. Amanda Nunes, the division’s longtime champion and the best women’s MMA fighter of all time, retired last June, leaving the belt without an owner. Pennington (15-8), a 35-year-old Colorado native, has won five straight. Bueno Silva (10-2-1, 1 NC), a 32-year-old Brazilian fighting out of Florida, defeated Holly Holm via submission in her last bout in July, but the win was overturned to a no contest following a Bueno Silva failed drug test for prescribed medication.
Also on the card, Canada’s Mike Malott will face Neil Magny in a welterweight bout, Arnold Allen takes on Movsar Evloev in a significant featherweight contender matchup and Chris Curtis faces Marc-Andre Barriault in a clash of middleweight action fighters.
Follow along as Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi, Jeff Wagenheim and Dre Waters recap the action as it happens or watch the fights live on ESPN+ PPV.