This is the UFC 297 live blog for Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis, the middleweight title fight on Saturday in Toronto.
An afterthought heading into 2023, Sean Strickland instead turned the MMA world on its head and authored one of the most unexpected years in recent memory, stringing together three wins, including his massive upset of Israel Adesanya to claim the middleweight title. That let to Strickland taking home Fight of the Year honors in 2023, and now “Tarzan” looks to build on his impressive year with his first title defense.
A former KSW welterweight champion, du Plessis joined the UFC in 2020 and has been a menace ever since. Stringing together six straight wins with five finishes, du Plessis punched his ticket to a middleweight title shot by demolishing former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. Unable to make the quick turnaround to fight Israel Adesanya for the belt, du Plessis waited his turn and now has a matchup with Strickland for his chance to claim UFC gold.
Check out the UFC 297 middleweight title fight live blog below.
