The
Ultimate Fighting Championship hosts its first pay-per-view
event of 2024 this weekend.
Atop the
UFC 297 card is a middleweight title clash between champion
Sean
Strickland and No. 1 contender Dricus Du
Plessis. Both fighters successfully made weight, as did
Raquel
Pennington and Mayra
Bueno Silva, who will vie for the vacant bantamweight title.
There were two weight misses as Malcolm
Gordon came in 1.5 pounds over the flyweight limit for his
fight against Jimmy Flick,
and would-be bantamweight Ramon
Taveras weighed 139.75 pounds for his scheduled scrap versus
Serhiy
Sidey. Both men will be fined a percentage of their purses as a
result.
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Strickland (28-5) is coming off a shocking upset of Israel
Adesanya. Over five rounds, Strickland outpointed „The Last
Stylebender“ with his jab and solid fundamentals. „Tarzan“ is now
on a three-fight win streak, having also outclassed Abusupiyan
Magomedov and Nassourdine
Imavov. The American officially weighed 184.75 for his first
title defense.
This marks the first UFC main event for Du Plessis (20-2).
Undefeated since joining the promotion, „Stillknocks“ is 6-0 inside
the promotion. He’s coming off impressive stoppages of Robert
Whittaker, Derek
Brunson and Darren Till.
The South African fighter stepped on the scale weighing 184
pounds.
UFC 297 prelims begin at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT on ESPN+ and UFC
Fight Pass. The action moves over to ESPN+ and ESPNEWS at 8 p.m.
ET/5 p.m. PT before transitioning to ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m.
ET/7 p.m. PT.
UFC 297 Weigh-in Results:
Sean
Strickland (184.75) vs. Dricus Du
Plessis (184)
Raquel
Pennington (134.8) vs. Mayra
Bueno Silva (135)
Neil
Magny (170.75) vs. Mike Malott
(170.5)
Marc-Andre
Barriault (184.5) vs. Chris
Curtis (185.25)
Arnold
Allen (145.5) vs. Movsar
Evloev (145.75)
Garrett
Armfield (135.25) vs. Brad Katona
(136)
Charles
Jourdain (145.5) vs. Sean
Woodson (145.5)
Serhiy
Sidey (135) vs. Ramon
Taveras (139.75)*
Gillian
Robertson (115.75) vs. Polyana
Viana (115.75)
Yohan
Lainesse (170.75) vs. Sam
Patterson (169.5)
Priscila
Cachoeira (133.5) vs. Jasmine
Jasudavicius (133)
Jimmy
Flick (126) vs. Malcolm
Gordon (127.5)**
* Taveras missed weight by 3.75 pounds and has been fined a
percentage of his purse.
** Gordon missed weight by 1.5 pounds and has been fined a
percentage of his purse.