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UFC 297 has come and gone and while we knew there was going to be at least one new champion crowned, we ended up with two. Raquel Pennington claimed the vacant women’s bantamweight title in a grating decision over Mayra Bueno Silva. Of greater consequence, Dricus Du Plessis upended Sean Strickland in a razor-thin split decision victory to claim the middleweight championship in Toronto, extending the streak of middleweight fights without a successful title defense to four.
When I say razor-thin, it’s hard to say if Du Plessis was the rightful winner at UFC 297. All the scorecards read 48-47, two for Du Plessis and one for Strickland. Strickland held the overall advantage in significant strikes, but Du Plessis appeared to land the harder shots and secured a few takedowns too. Regardless of whether you agree with the final decision, it was a close enough contest that it wouldn’t be a surprise if we see it happen somewhere in the not-too-distant future.
The rest of the UFC 297 card was a mixed bag. Pennington’s victory had the crowd booing the fight. Chris Curtis and Marc-Andre Barriault cooked on a slow simmer before turning things up in the end. Movsar Evloev and Arnold Allen had a fantastic fight. Jasmine Jasudavicius and Gillian Robertson did whatever they wanted to their opponents to the delight of the crowd. That was about all that went right for the Canadian fans.
But who were the real winners and losers at UFC 297? Sure, 13 UFC fighters officially had their hand raised in victory, but that doesn’t always mean they are the true winners of the night. Same with those who didn’t get their hand raised. Just like not all wins are created equal, not all losses are either. I’ll give you the lowdown on who the biggest winners and losers of UFC 297 were. I’ll limit it to three in each category, doing my best to avoid having the same combatants of a contest in both categories. Let’s dig in!
UFC 297 Winners
Dricus Du Plessis
Du Plessis walked through fire to claim his throne at UFC 297. Strickland appeared to be at his best and Du Plessis met him every step of the way. Several questions were answered about Du Plessis’ ability to fight effectively for five rounds too. Plus, Du Plessis was dealing with some major swelling in his left eye from the early stages of the fight. It wasn’t a perfect performance from Du Plessis, but it was absolutely a proving performance and validated not just himself, but Sean Strickland in the process. It’s a hell of a night when your opponent shows his previous effort wasn’t a fluke and you can still get your hand raised above them.
There’s no doubt the UFC is happy about the outcome too. The UFC was previously anxious to have Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya square off for the title in a battle to be Africa’s favorite son. They felt a bit burned when Adesanya laid an egg against Strickland, but it appears those plans are only delayed now as opposed to being canceled. Du Plessis no doubt is anxious for the contest – he did call out Adesanya – as it is the best opportunity for him raise his profile. Adesanya hasn’t reached superstar status, but he might be the closest thing the UFC currently has to that, and Du Plessis is well aware of that.
Raquel Pennington
Pennington has been on the UFC roster for over a decade. She has frequently been overlooked by fans as a legit title contender since enduring one of the worst beatings in a title fight at the hands of Amanda Nunes. Then again, Pennington has never been an elite athlete. She has never had serious power. Her wrestling and grappling prowess has largely been okay. She’s never had the type of personality the UFC wants to market. Despite all that, she can now be called UFC champion.
I’m not going to pretend that Pennington’s fight with Bueno Silva at UFC 297 was fun to watch; it wasn’t. Regardless, Pennington had a clear strategy for the fight: survive the early onslaught from the Brazilian and just wear her down over the course of five rounds. It may not have been pretty at UFC 297, but it was the perfect game plan given the strengths and weaknesses of the combatants in the cage. Given Pennington claimed the belt so late in her career, it’s hard to believe she’ll be more than a placeholder for the belt. Regardless, only a select few can be called a UFC champion. Pennington is now one of those select few.
Movsar Evloev
Evloev’s UFC 297 contest with Arnold Allen was the first time I had doubts about his being the favorite. Despite those misgivings, I did ultimately pick him, expecting it to be a razor-thin decision. It did end up being a competitive contest, but the Allen backers when the scorecards were read were far and few between. That Evloev managed to control Allen for long stretches with his wrestling and scrambling wasn’t a surprise. It’s that the most significant strike of the contest – opening up a nasty cut on the cheek of Allen – came from Evloev. It turns out the Russian grappler can strike a bit after all.
More importantly for Evloev, he likely punched himself a ticket to fighting for the featherweight title. Of course, he’ll have to wait for Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria to take care of business next month, but that’s a short wait by UFC standards. Should Topuria win, he might need to wait for a potential rematch, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if Volkanovski were to take an extended break at that point, much like his teammate Israel Adesanya has done. Either way, Evloev looks primed to enter the title picture.
UFC 297 Losers
Mike Malott
I’ve been confused by many including Malott alongside the likes of Shavkat Rakhmonov, Sean Brady, Jack Della Maddalena, Ian Garry, and Michael Morales. Malott always appeared to be at least a step below those men in my book. That didn’t stop me from picking Malott to beat Neil Magny as Magny has appeared to be in decline for quite some time at this juncture. Even now, I feel justified in my pick given Malott was in clear control of the fight for the first 13 minutes. Unfortunately, it was those last two minutes of their UFC 297 match up that made all the difference.
Malott seemed to run out of gas instantaneously. A botched guillotine resulted in Magny falling on top of Malott and that was the end for Malott. Magny’s onslaught proved to be too much for an exhausted Malott, the end of the fight officially coming with just 15 seconds remaining. With the loss, Malott likely is going to see a stop to the push the UFC has given him. After all, it isn’t like 170 is devoid of up-and-coming talent. I did just list five other names that appear to be more worthwhile.
Priscila Cachoeira
Anyone who listens to the UFC commentary teams know they frequently get hyperbolic when describing the action in the cage. When they said Jasmine Jasudavicius was torturing Cachoeira, they weren’t being hyperbolic in the least. Jasudavicius spent nearly the entirety of the first two rounds in the top position of Cachoeira, a good chunk of that in the mount. Punches and elbows came raining down upon the face of Cachoeira, but none of them were hard enough to separate Cachoeira from a conscious state. In the process, Jasudavicius set the record for total strikes disparity in the history of the bantamweight division.
Perhaps more damaging for Cachoeira is the late request to move the fight to bantamweight. Originally scheduled to be contested at 125, Cachoeira’s camp asked for a change in the weight classes on Thursday, just one day before the weigh-ins. If Cachoeira manages to keep her UFC employment, I expect she’ll be asked to compete at 135 moving forward as this wouldn’t have been her first weight miss. Dana White might appreciate her slugging style, but he also loathes weight misses.
Canada
UFC 297 was not a good night for the Canadians on the card. If you include Allen, who trains out of Canada, those repping the maple leaf went a combined 2-8. In other words, I get the feeling the majority of the fans in the arena went home at least somewhat disappointed. Thus, it isn’t just the fighters repping the flag that had a bad night; it was the fans as well.
Canada hasn’t had a major star to call their own since GSP retired. It’s a bit of a shame given Canada appeared to be a major hotbed at the beginning of the 2010’s. The prospects that have come through the last decade have all flamed out. In fact, unless you count Allen, Canada doesn’t have a single fighter on the UFC roster with a number next to their name. Perhaps that will change with Jasudavicius when the new rankings come out, but Malott, Barriault, and Charles Jourdain had opportunities to change that and came up short. Here’s hoping things change sooner rather than later.