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UFC 297 Post Fight Analysis

UFC 297 Post Fight Analysis

Strickland vs. Du Plessis

BMF
January 22, 2024

Hello fight fans! UFC 297 took place this weekend at Scotiabank Arena Toronto, Canada and it was not a good night for the Canadians or if you left it to the judges. Oof!

Trivia (answer at end)

Where was the first UFC event in Canada held?

Arnold Allen vs. Movsar Evloev

Recap: This was an interesting fight to watch and all three judges scored the fight 29-28 giving the win to Evloev. I say interesting because I think Allen should have won the fight. Evloev won the first and second rounds and Allen the third. For the first 4 minutes of round 1, the two were in stand up with Allen doing a great job of peppering Evloev. There was only one instance of a takedown attempt which turned into clinch against the cage, and Allen successfully got out without damage. In the last minute, Evloev had a lot of takedowns but no damage was done. Allen showcased impressive high level wrestling takedown defense by doing continuous Gramby rolls and every single time he was on the ground, he was getting back up to his feet. I can see why the judges scored the first round to Evloev, but I disagree as no damage was done and Evloev only controlled Allen for one minute. The second round was similar to the first but with Evloev hurting Allen with a punch.

The third round had some drama. Allen won on all three scorecards but Marc Goddard unnecessarily stopped the fight. Allen had control of Evloev’s head and was kneeing him and moving him across the octagon. During this, Evloev was trying to game the system by putting his hand down on the ground to be a grounded opponent (you can’t knee a grounded opponent in the head). I don’t think Goddard should have stopped the fight as these were legal knees and the rule states the hand must be weight bearing. This was a HUGE mistake because Allen really had Evloev hurt and it could have led to a TKO. Allen didn’t get a point taken away but that’s not the point. Because of the unneeded stoppage, Evloev had time to recover and it took away Allen’s TKO opportunity.

What’s Next: Evloev wants the winner of Volk and Topuria. I think he needs one more fight as this fight was not convincing enough to me that he deserves a title fight. I think Allen got robbed. Rodriguez and Ortega will fight in February, so I can see him taking the loser of that.

Chris Curtis vs. Marc-Andre Barriault

Recap: This fight was lazy on the feet, heavy on the hands, and wasn’t nearly as exciting as I thought it would be. The whole fight looked like a sparring match. The two would punch a little and stop. There were never really any long combinations and only a handful of leg kicks were thrown. Out of all three rounds, the third round was definitely the most exciting but still a bit underwhelming. The two started doing a lot more dirty boxing, which I expected would have happened in all three rounds since Curtis does a great job in the clinch and Barriault has a good gas tank, but we only got 20 seconds of it. At the end, the judges scored the rounds 30-27 Curtis, 29-28 Barriault, and 30-27 Curtis. These judges were terrible. Curtis definitely won but I don’t think he won the first round. I have no idea what fight the second judge watched to give Barriault 29-28 but at least they were able to get the winner correct.

What’s Next: Curtis said that he’s here to fight for the money and in his post fight interview he mentioned that he’d fight Strickland for money. He already fights his best friend for free, so might as well fight him for money. Love his sense of humor. As for the former chef, Barriault is close to breaking in the top 15 so we’ll have to see how this all plays out.

Neil Magny vs. Mike Malott

Recap: This was Canada’s last chance at winning on Saturday and they fell short. Malott did his homework from Magny’s last fight and really attacked the legs to a point where Magny was nullified and limping after round 1. In round 2, Malott continued with the leg kicks and added in some easy takedowns where he was able to mount and get in ground and pound. Going into the third round he was easily up 2-0. He dominated the first 3:10 of round 3 to a point where the commentators were talking about his next opponent being in the top 10. Then, Neil Magny did what Neil Magny does. Never discount this man. He has cardio for daysss. With 1:50 left, Malott had Magny in a guillotine. Then, Magny picked Malott up and dropped him to the canvas to get out. Once the drop happened, Magny had the better position and fought to get mount. Then with a minute left, he secured the mount and unleashed a plethora of punches. The ref did a great job of giving Malott time to try to fight back but he wasn’t moving and Magny picked up the TKO at 4:45 of round 3. I did not have Neil Magny winning by TKO in my UFC bingo card but this is why I love this sport!

What’s Next: This is definitely Malott’s learning fight and he’ll still be close to breaking the top 15. I’m looking forward to seeing how he bounces back from this. He was in his hometown, undefeated, the heavy favorite, and winning this fight up to the last 1:50. That’s a bit of a mental fuck. Magny said that he’s in a great place and he’s going to sit back and watch how the Welterweight division plays out since a lot of the guys are fighting and will prioritize his skillset.

Raquel “Rocky” Pennington vs. Mayra “Sheetara” Bueno Silva

Recap: We have a NEWWW UNDISPUTED CHAMPION!!! Heart and experience go a lot further in this fight game than you’d think and Raquel Pennington proved that to us Saturday night! There was a lot of hype going into this fight for Mayra Bueno Silva but Pennington shut that down. Bueno Silva came out strong in the first round but as the rounds progressed, her cardio and will to win diminished. To me, all 5 rounds were boring but strategic. Boring for the viewers but strategic for Pennington. Bueno Silva is a BJJ black belt and Pennington was able to tire her out (Pennington has a lot more experience with 5 round fights). There were times when Bueno Silva just laid on her back on the canvas while Pennington was telling her to stand up. What I didn’t understand though during this fight was why Pennington continued to get into close quarters with her. Pennington hits hard and does so good on her feet. Her most success came when she was keeping distance and using her striking. Bueno Silva kept her chin up and was getting rocked so it wasn’t making sense as to why Pennington continued to get into clinch with her. Even her corner was telling her to use her hands and keep the distance but she didn’t listen, but she did what she did to become champion. The women’s Bantamweight title is no longer vacant.

What’s Next: I wasn’t impressed with Bueno Silva’s performance in this fight and she moved up fast in the ranks. I’d like to see how she does against anyone in the top 10 since she hasn’t fought any of the top 10 Bantamweights except Holly Holm. Pennington has fought hard to get this title and it is well deserved. She called out Peña so we’ll see when that fight gets scheduled.

Sean Strickland vs. Dricus “Stillknocks” Du Plessis

Recap: I’m just going to start this off by saying Drake sucks and needs to stop betting (the Drake curse really is a thing) and I think Strickland got robbed. Look, this fight was definitely close and I really do like DDP but I do not think he won. I rewatched this fight a few times (with and without commentary) to see if I completely missed something. I checked other fighter’s accounts to see what they thought, I watched Joe Rogan’s Fight Companion where he had the very knowledgeable Brendan Schaub on, and I listened to Dana White’s post fight press conference. All thought that Strickland won 3-2 and on Fight Companion they could even argue that Strickland won 4-1. As for the specific rounds, I think Strickland won rounds 1, 2, and 5. DDP definitely took round 4, and round 3 I could see going either way. The judges gave DDP rounds 2, 3, and 4.

This fight was an awesome stylistic matchup as both fighters are awkward but I just don’t think DDP did enough (even Dana White says you need to really beat the champ to become one) and I’m very curious as to what the judges saw in round 2. Damage is the first criteria when it comes to scoring and I think Strickland inflicted the most damage with his infamous jab (go look at pics of DDP’s face) and the damage was constant. Strickland also did a great job of rolling with the punches and blocking the kicks that DDP threw. DDP did have a takedown in round 2 but nothing came of it as Strickland easily got back to his feet. Takedowns do get points, but there was never any damage inflicted from them and zero submission attempts were made. Also, the takedown in round 2 occurred with one minute left and for the 4 minutes prior, Strickland was piecing up DDP with the jab. In that instance, the takedown should not trump the damage. In round 4, there were takedowns and with how that round went DDP without a doubt deserved that one. This fight was a war and I will say that DDP answered everyone’s question about his cardio. Congrats to the new undisputed champ and I’m looking forward to seeing how this division plays out.

What’s Next: I personally think the UFC needs to add more judges and they should rerun this fight. A fight that ends in a split decision is a really great indicator that the fight was good and should be rerun. However, DDP is the champ and wants Adesanya. We’re not sure what Izzy wants to do as he said he was going to take a long break. If he still stands by that then Strickland definitely deserves the rematch. I can also imagine Izzy watching this fight, thinking WTF, and coming back sooner than he said. As for Strickland, he’s going to take whatever fight they give him. Even though he’s not the Middleweight champion now, he’s still forever and always the People’s champion.

Trivia Answer

Montreal, Quebec for UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2 where St-Pierre reclaimed his title.