UFC 297, Random Land!

After its first successful event of the year in which a potential No. 1 Light Heavyweight contender was crowned, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) leaves Las Vegas, Nevada, and returns to Toronto, Canada, for UFC 297 for its inaugural pay-per-view (PPV) of 2024. In UFC 297’s main event, Middleweight champion, Sean Strickland, defends his strap against No. 2-ranked Dricus Du Plessis, while Mayra Bueno Silva takes on former title challenger, Raquel Pennington, for the vacant Bantamweight championship in the co-feature.

While UFC 297 isn’t the strongest PPV, it is loaded with Canadian talent up and down the card, which will make the atmosphere incredible (it already is). So, before the first PPV event of the year kicks off on ESPN+ PPV, let’s check out some random storylines, tidbits and statistics ahead of UFC 297 …

‘The 6’

UFC returns to Toronto, Canada, this Saturday for the first time since UFC 231 in 2018. In the main event, Max Holloway absolutely battered Brain Ortega, eventually forcing the doctor to stop the fight (watch it). Meanwhile, Valentina Shevchenko defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the co-main event for the vacant Flyweight championship.

Only six Canadians were on the card.

Bad Blood!

Whenever there is some severe heat between two fighters, it always makes the fight more interesting … and that is exactly what UFC 297’s main event has. When the fight was announced last year, there was respect between Strickland and Du Plessis, but that flew out the window during UFC’s 2024 seasonal press conference (watch it here) as Du Plessis got under the skin of Strickland by bringing up his childhood trauma.

The fight could be chaotic with the bad blood between the two Middleweights … even if the two fighters pretend to be good terms now.

What A Year

By the time Strickland enters the cage, it will be one year and six days since he was coming off back-to-back losses, headlining UFC Vegas 67 inside UFC Apex. Fast forward a few months, and he dominated Nassourdine Imavov, Abus Magomedov and Israel Adesanya to win the Middleweight championship.

It was a crazy year for Strickland, who proved so many doubters wrong.

First Main Event

Du Plessis competes in his first UFC main event at UFC 297 after six fights with the promotion. The highest he has fought on a card was the “Featured Fight” against Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 back in July 2023. And that went well.

History In The Making?

Du Plessis has the chance to be the first South African UFC champion and, of course, in his own words the, “first real African champ, trained, born, bred, in Africa.”

Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya and Francis Ngannou might have something to say about that, though. Nevertheless, South Africa would be the 22nd nation to have a UFC champion.

A New Era

UFC 297’s co-main event of Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Raquel Pennington will mark only the second time in 11 years that a women’s Bantamweight title fight will not feature Amanda Nunes or Ronda Rousey. Holm Holm vs. Meisha Tate was the only other fight not to feature Nunes nor Rousey.

Putting In Work … For A Decade

With a win on Saturday, Pennington will become the third fighter in UFC history to win an undisputed title after 10 years with the promotion (Robbie Lawler and Charles Oliveira are the others). Pennington is riding a five-fight win streak.

Title Shot Off A ‘No Contest?’

Bueno Silva gets her first UFC title shot off a “No Contest” against Holly Holm. The fight was originally ended with a second round ninja choke (watch it), but the win was overturned after she tested positive for Ritalin. Nevertheless, she is riding a three-fight win streak with two finishes.

Back In Front Of A Crowd

Bueno Silva has not fought in front of a sold-out crowd since UFC Fight Night 137 back in 2018, tapping Gillian Robertson. Since that fight, she has fought inside UFC Apex seven times, although she did fight in an empty arena in Brazil before the world shut down at UFC Fight Night 170.

Jimmy Flick — who opens the fight card on Saturday — will compete in front of a sold-out crowd for the first time in his UFC career.

Canada’s Next GSP?

There is no doubt that since George St-Pierre has retired, Canada has lacked a real star. It has been a long, rough drought, but a new Canadian superstar may be on the rise with Mike Mallott.

Indeed, Mallott is undefeated (3-0) in UFC with three finishes and holds a 100 percent finish rate. On top of being an all-action fighter, he looks good, speaks well, and is sponsored by Happy Dad, which the Nelk Boys created.

While he is already 32, he might just be reaching his prime.

Shot At The Rankings

Mallott is also getting a shot at the Top 15 rankings in only his fourth fight with the promotion as he fights the all-time wins leader in the Welterweight division, Neil Magny.

Featherweight No. 1 Contender Fight?

The second-best fight on the card behind the main event (or one could argue it is the best) is Arnold Allen vs. Movsar Evolev. Allen is ranked No. 4 in the Featherweight Top 15, while Evolev is seeded No. 9. With a win, there is a good chance Evolev could fight for the Featherweight title in his next fight — he is undefeated and riding a 17-fight win streak. However, it all depends on the result of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria at UFC 298.

If Allen wins, he has a little longer road because he lost to Holloway — who will keep busy at UFC 300 — at UFC Kansas City.

Nevertheless, Allen vs. Evloev is a high-level fight that should be absolute gold … especially if the two grapple.

Xtreme Couture Goes To War

Strickland and Chris Curtis — teammates and best buds — are both on UFC 297’s PPV main card. Curtis faces Marc-Andre Barriault (full preview here).

Canadians in Canada

Nine Canadians are on UFC 297.

‘Air’ Canada

After 12 fights in the promotion, from fighting in Korea to Abu Dhabi to Las Vegas, Charles Jourdain finally fights in his home country of Canada. Jourdain faces Sean Woodson on the “Prelims” in what should be an easy choice for “Fight of the Night.”

Full Circle For ‘Superman’

Brad Katona won The Ultimate Fighter 31 in his last outing to become the first two-time TUF winner. The first time he won TUF, he made his proper UFC debut in Toronto at UFC 231, and so, he returns to Toronto again after winning TUF.

Welcome To UFC + Rebooked

Two fighters are making their UFC debut at UFC 297 and fighting each other … again.

Serhiy Sidey (10-1) takes on Ramon Taveras (9-2). Sidey earned his UFC contract last year on season seven of Contender Series, knocking out Tavaeras in the first round. However, the stoppage was super early, which made UFC CEO, Dana White, rebook the pair of Bantamweight hopefuls for UFC 297.

Winners And Losers

Eleven fighters are coming off wins, while 11 are coming off losses. Two are coming off a “No Contest” (Bueno Silva and Curtis).

Multi-Divisions

Here are the divisions that will be on display this Saturday:

• Two Middleweight fights
• Two Welterweight fights
• Two Lightweight fights
• Two Featherweight fights
• Two Bantamweight fights
• One Flyweight fight
• Two women’s Bantamweight fights
• One women’s Strawweight fight

Beta Dog

According to DraftKings, UFC 297’s “biggest” underdog is Priscila Cachoeira at +285.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 297 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPNEWS at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 297: “Strickland vs. Du Plessis” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.