UFC 297 Results & Recap: Du Plessis Dethrones Middleweight Champ Strickland; Pennington Wins Women's Bantamweight Title

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Toronto, January 21: New champions were crowned as Dricus Du Plessis and Raquel Pennington won their respective title matches in the headliner of UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis event at the sold out Scotiaback Arena in Toronto, Canada on Sunday (January 20).

In the main event, Du Plessis dethroned Sean Strickland from the UFC middleweight throne, while Pennington outworked Mayra Bueno Silva to win the vacant UFC women's bantamweight title in the co-main event.

The first numbered event of 2024 saw seven of the 12 fights go the distance and five end in stoppages, which were three submission finishes and two technical knock outs. Among the five stoppages, one was a first round finish, while 2 were third round and 2 were second round finishes.

While the World Championship headliner between Du Plessis and Strickland bagged the fight of the night award, two other fighters on the card were also given bonuses for their respective stoppage wins.

Jasmine Jasudavicius and Gillian Robertson walked away from the pay-per-view with an extra USD50K as performance bonus for their stoppage wins on the prelims and early prelims. Here is the recap and results from UFC 297:

UFC 297 Recap

In the main event, Du Plessis became the new UFC middleweight champion, as the South African claimed the title with a unanimous decision win over Strickland, who began the fight by managing range and working behind his jab.

But as the fight progressed, Du Plessis started finding his range and landing heavier shots, mixing in the occasional takedown to keep the champion off balance. After five gruelling rounds, Du Plessis had his hand raised with the unanimous decision.

After edging Strickland, Du Plessis said: "This is history for South Africa! I honestly thought with the takedowns that I made sure in every round. I could feel it was a close fight.

"The first two rounds were give and take, but the last two rounds I knew. Who says 'This guy's not a five round fighter'?! What did i tell you?! Sean Strickland, you said 'To the death'. I didn't quite get there, but you are one hell of a man."

In the co-main event, Pennington turned in a tenacious, grimy effort to out-work Bueno Silva over five rounds to become the new women's bantamweight champion. The title was previously held by Amanda Nunes, who vacated the title following her retirement last year.

After coming up short in her first bid to claim UFC gold, "Rocky" Pennington made the most of her second opportunity. Bueno Silva threatened with a rear-naked choke early, but as the fight progressed, Pennington maintained her output as Bueno Silva faded.

Following the win, Pennington said: "It feels surreal. It's been a long five years getting back here. I expected to come out here and do a lot more, but a fight is a fight and Mayra was tough."

"For everyone who is chasing a dream, and people are saying 'You're not good enough', stay believing, because that's exactly what I did," Pennington concluded her Octagon interview.

Also on the main card, Chris Curtis and Movsar Evloev earned decision wins over Marc-Andre Barriault and Arnold Allen respectively in their middleweight and featherweight bouts, while Neil Magny claimed the lone stoppage win on the main card over Mike Malott at welterweight.

UFC 297 Results

• Middleweight World Championship Bout: Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland by split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
• Women's Bantamweight World Championship Bout: Raquel Pennington defeated Mayra Bueno Silva by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45)
• Welterweight Bout: Neil Magny defeated Mike Malott by TKO (strikes) at 4:45 of Round 3
• Middleweight Bout: Chris Curtis defeated Marc-Andre Barriault by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
• Featherweight Bout: Movsar Evloev defeated Arnold Allen by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Bantamweight Bout: Garrett Armfield defeated Brad Katona by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Featherweight Bout: Sean Woodson defeated Charles Jourdain by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Catchweight (139.75 lb) Bout: Ramon Taveras defeated Serhiy Sidey by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Women's Strawweight Bout: Gillian Robertson defeated Polyana Viana by TKO (strikes) at 3:12 of Round 2
• Welterweight Bout: Sam Patterson defeated Yohan Lainasse by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:03 of Round 1
• Women's Flyweight Bout: Jasmine Jasudavicius defeated Priscila Cachoeira by submission (anaconda choke) at 4:21 of Round 3
• Catchweight (127.5 lb) Bout: Jimmy Flick defeated Malcolm Gordon by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 1:17 of Round 2