TORONTO | After a week of abuse, Dricus Du Plessis accepted the UFC middleweight (185-pound) championship belt from Sean Strickland at UFC 297.
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The South African (21-2-0, 9 KOs, 10 submissions) won by split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) against the American (2-6-0, 11 KOs, 4 submissions).
The two fighters fought a tough fight that was extremely close from start to finish.
“It was a damn war,” Strickland said at the end of the fight in the octagon.
Du Plessis was able to knock his opponent down six times, including twice in the second round and three times in the fourth round.
Strickland, a slugger, relied on his fists and although Du Plessis had a pretty swollen left eye already in the second round, it was Strickland who ended up with a bloody left eye.
This fight was the highlight of an otherwise ordinary gala that didn't upset anyone.
In the semifinals of the evening, the American Raquel Pennington (15-9-0, 1 KO, 4 submissions) and the Brazilian Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1, 1 KO, 7 submissions) competed for the vacant bantamweight title (135 lb).
Pennington won the tasteless duel by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45).