Biggest Winners, Loser From UFC 297

UFC 297 went down last night (Sat., Jan. 20, 2024) inside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada featuring a Middleweight title fight that saw Dricus Du Plessis become the new Middleweight champion of the world with a close, split-decision win over Sean Strickland (highlights). In the co-main event, Raquel Pennington defeated Mayra Bueno Silva via unanimous decision to capture the women’s vacant Bantamweight title (recap here).

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Biggest Winner: Dricus Du Plessis

It may have not been the dominant win he was hoping for, but Du Plessis is the new champion at 185 pounds. He improves his win streak to nine, which includes going 7-0 inside the Octagon. Aside from winning the title, “Stillknocks” may have secured himself a big-money title defense against former division champion, Israel Adesanya, assuming “The Last Stylebender” takes the South African-born champion up on his challenge. I hear UFC 300 still needs a main event.

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Runner Up: Raquel Pennington

“Rocky” was finally able to fulfill her championship dreams five years after coming up short in her first bid, losing to Amanda Nunes via technical knockout (TKO) in the fifth and final round at UFC 224. Pennington showed true grit against Mayra Bueno Silva, who almost had the fight in hand on a couple of occasions with a rear-naked choke. But Pennington simply wanted it more, and her tenacity showed in this fight. She is now on a six-fight win streak and at the top of the women’s Bantamweight mountain after fighting for 10 years inside the Octagon.

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Honorable Mention: Neil Magny

While Magny hasn’t exactly had the best win/loss record over the last two years, going just 2-3 prior to last night, the longtime veteran showed that he will never just roll over a die in a fight. Being down 2-0 against rising contender, Mike Malott, Magny dug deep in the third and final round to pull off an improbable come-form-behind technical knockout (TKO) victory over the Canadian-born fighter (see it again here). It was an inspired performance for Magny, who gets a new lease on his combat life by avoiding his second straight defeat.

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Biggest Loser: Mike Malott

In his first big test against a grizzled veteran, Mike Malott looked like he was more than up for the task. He preformed well in the first 10 minutes of the fight, dominating every aspect of it to go up 2-0. Just as it seemed he was about to pick up his second straight win on a main card of a pay-per-view (PPV) event in his home country of Canada, things took a turn for the worse. Magny found a new gear and managed to turn it up and show out in the final round, taking the fight to the ground where he drained Malott’s gas tank. Magny piled on the ground-and-pound and “Proper” simply had no defense, no energy, no nothing. Eventually the referee stepped in to put an end to the fight, ending Malott’s seven-fight unbeaten streak and ruining his hopes of making a big impression.

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For complete UFC 297: “Strickland vs. Du Plessis” results and play-by-play, click HERE.