On January 20th, UFC 297 is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena, Toronto Ontario, Canada. This will be the first time newly crowned middleweight champion Sean Strickland defends his belt. Challenging for the belt is Dricus Du Plessis with notable wins over Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson and Darren Till. Du Plessis was a former KSW and EFC champion, so he is eager to get his hands on UFC gold.
This is the first time since GSP Vs Bisping the middleweight title was on the line without Israel Adesanya being in the picture. Dricus Du Plessis being on a 8 fight win streak with 7 being finishes.
Sean Strickland on the other hand is making this fight personal with Dricus mentioning his childhood trauma. This is going to be fireworks and this fight is a breath of fresh air in the division. The winner of this fight will most likely either take on Khamzat Chimaev or Israel Adesanya.
In the Co-Main event we have Raquel Pennington Vs Mayra Bueno Silva, for the vacant UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship. Previously held by Amanda Nunes, who is now retired. We are going to crown a new champion in the women’s Bantamweight division. From a rather rocky start of her MMA career, Raquel Pennington is on a 5 fight win streak with a record of 15-9. Submission specialist, Bueno Silva on the other hand is 3-1-1 in her last 5 fights. Her last fight was given a No- contest versus Holly Holm due to taking illegal substances without knowing it was illegal, which was quite unfortunate to not get the win over ex-UFC champ, Holm.
Neil Magny is also looking to get back in the win column as he takes on Canada's own and DWCS Alumni, Mike Malott which is another Veteran Vs Prospect matchup for Magny. In his last 5 fights, Magny has a record of 2-3, however, Malott is on a 6 fight win streak and looking to be the next Canadian superstar.
Chris Curtis comes back and takes on another Canadian in Marc-Andre Barriault. Chris Curtis recently has been getting some very bad luck towards him, with his last fight being a no-contest due to a clash of heads and his fight before that versus Gastelum was a controversial decision loss which many think he won. Curtis and his Best friend Strickland will be looking for 2 wins this Saturday.
Curtis with a record of 30-10 with 18 finishes and Barriault’s record stands at 16-6 with 11 finishes.
The first fight to kick off the main card in Toronto is a matchup between two highly skilled featherweights including Arnold Allen and Movsar Evloev. Ipswich’s Arnold Allen has a record of 19-2 having a 12-fight win streak until Max Holloway put an end to it with that being his most recent loss, and Evloev is an undefeated fighter with a record of 17-0 but only 7 of them are finishes and his last 7 fights all came by decision wins. I think this bout favours the underdog, Allen massively.
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