A lot of people have weighed in on the UFC 297 scoring in the main event middleweight title bout between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis. UFC President Dana White scored the fight for Strickland. Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker scored the fight for Du Plessis.
As the fallout from the decision continues, former light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith weighed in with his scorecard.
“I’m kind of catching a lot of sh*t for this but I really thought Sean won four rounds. I really did,” Smith said on the Believe You Me podcast.
“That’s not saying it wasn’t a close fight. I thought there were very, very close rounds, but at the end I thought it was 4 to 1 Sean. I’m not mad Du Plessis won. I don’t think it’s a robbery. I don’t think any of that but I did think that Sean Strickland remained the champion. I didn’t put a lot of weight into the takedowns because he didn’t do anything with them. He didn’t control him for any amount of time. There was no damage. There was no submission attempts. I just didn’t see a lot with that especially with the new rules, takedowns being position changes,” continued Smith.
While Smith scored the fight for Strickland, he didn’t have a big issue with Du Plessis getting the win. It was a close fight.
“I don’t have any problem with Du Plessis getting the win. When you keep fights that close they kind of can go either way,” he said.
Israel Adesanya may not hold the UFC middleweight title anymore but he’s still favored to win in a potential showdown with new champion Dricus du Plessis.
Following a razor-close win over Sean Strickland this past Saturday night at UFC 297, du Plessis claimed the 185-pound title for the first time in his career. Immediately afterwards, the South African called out Adesanya for a long awaited fight after they were originally expected to meet this past September.
Despite du Plessis remaining undefeated in the UFC with his win over Strickland, Adesanya still commands a lot of respect as one of the most dominant champions in recent history. That’s why the oddsmakers at Sportsbetting.ag have Adesanya listed as a very slight favorite should he draw du Plessis next.
Here are the opening odds for the fight:
Dricus Du Plessis -105
Israel Adesanya -115
Based on those odds, it would require a $ 115 bet on Adesanya to win back $ 100 as the favorite. A $ 100 bet on du Plessis would return $ 105 as the underdog.
Because the line is so incredibly close, it wouldn’t take a lot of betting action to see the fighters switch places by the time they actually meet in the octagon.
The current odds are a dramatic shift from previous betting lines that opened after du Plessis became the No. 1 contender in the division following a stunning win over former champion Robert Whittaker. At the time, Adesanya opened as a massive -330 favorite with du Plessis sitting as a +270 underdog.
Since that time, Adesanya suffered a shocking upset loss to Strickland and then du Plessis claiming the middleweight title, which has the odds much closer this time around.
The UFC hasn’t announce with any certainty that Adesanya vs. du Plessis is next but it would certainly seem like a matchup that would attract a lot of eyeballs, especially considering the bad blood simmering between these two for the past year.
Photo by Amy Kaplan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Sean Strickland is currently fighting inside the Octagon.
In the future, the former UFC middleweight champion will instead be fighting in Congress, taking down the pro-castration movement and all who support it. If that means squaring off against Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), then so be it.
It sure beats running a Gorilla Vapes franchise.
“After I’m done fighting in a few years and I’m sitting on a big pile of money I probably will run for some public office position,” Strickland wrote on Twitter. “I’ll never win but I’d rather do something I care about instead of starting a CBD company lmao. Could you picture me sitting across from AOC as she’s telling everyone why children should be able to castrate themselves?! Come on you guys … you know one day you will need that in your life. After MMA I have a lot more wars in me. Until then I’ll just be speaking for you guys in the cage.”
I can see his campaign slogan now: Win the election, keep the erection!
Strickland, 32, is coming off a split decision loss to newly-crowned middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis in the UFC 297 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, which took place last Sat. night (Jan. 20, 2024) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
When and where “Tarzan” returns to the cage remains to be seen.
Photo by Paul Rutherford/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Neil Magny won’t hold a grudge against Ian Machado Garry, even after the heated trash talk between them was used as a weapon against him in his recent custody battle.
Ahead of UFC 292 this past August, Magny got into a verbal exchange with Garry where he promised to hand him an “ass whooping,” adding “being a father, I’ve become quite accustomed to that kind of whooping now.” Garry erupted and in return effectively painted Magny as a child abuser.
That led to Magny’s estranged wife using that as ammunition in court proceedings as they fought over custody of their son. Despite that, Magny said he has no ill will toward Garry, because he wouldn’t wish the same thing to happen to him – or anybody else for that matter.
“I hope he never had to go through it, or never has been through it,” Magny said on The MMA Hour. “Going through a separation when you have children involved is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to face throughout my life. That tops every type of experience I’ve had thus far, whether it’s grief, or misery, or whatever else it may be. That kind of experience is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
“It’s truly a difficult situation, where level of intent or the ability you have to actually be a parent to your child is at stake, and somebody else gets to decide how long you can see your children, when you can see your children, all that kind of stuff. It’s a very uneasy feeling.”
Of course, Magny didn’t appreciate that something so personal ended up as fodder for Garry’s trash talk, especially given the stakes surrounding his custody hearing.
“It was a very uneasy feeling,” he said. “To have an opponent take that lightly and make it a gimmick, and some of the things you’re saying in press conferences are being quoted in emails for my partner’s attorney to use in court and that kind of stuff. It was just a very uneasy feeling for me.
“This is beyond fighting. This is my actual life. Forget legacy, forget wins, forget record, forget all that stuff. My sole purpose on Earth is to be the best father as possible to my kids and the things said in that press conference being quoted and being put in a position to use against me in court, that was just an uneasy feeling. I didn’t like it at all. It took a huge toll on me.”
Lately, Garry has been on the other end of very personal trash talk from fighters like Sean Strickland and Colby Covington. Those attacks have often been aimed at his wife, Layla, with Strickland going as far as calling her a “sexual predator” because she’s 14 years older than him.
Whether the verbal assault was aimed at Garry or his family, Magny certainly didn’t wish that upon him, no matter what he had to go through in his own personal life.
“To go through that experience and see what that had the potential of doing, there’s no way I could turn around and say, ‘I wish this person goes through it now,’” Magny said. “That’s just nothing I’d ever want to go through again, nor would I wish anyone else to go through that, especially when you have an innocent child that’s in the middle of it that doesn’t deserve one parent or another being taken away from unjust causes.”
Magny actually wishes Garry and his family the best and offered them words of encouragement.
“With everything that’s happening with him now, I hope he gets to the point where he can figure it out,” Magny said. “At the end of the day, he and his wife have a child that they have to raise as well, and I hope they can figure it out for the sake of their child.
“Going through what I did, and seeing how that affected me personally, to see how it affected my kids personally, I don’t have room in my heart to hold grudges for anyone at that point. I’m just very grateful and very thankful that issue was able to get resolved quickly and didn’t affect my relationship with my children at all.”
As far as his own situation, Magny revealed he didn’t lose out during the custody battle, and he’s thankful that cooler heads eventually prevailed through the whole messy ordeal.
“In the end, I was very fortunate that I had a very rational judge that oversaw my case,” Magny said. “[The judge] understood the total landscape where that kind of criticism and where that kind of stuff was coming from.
“It was a great play by my ex-wife’s attorney, but at the end of the day, I was very fortunately that I have a very level-headed judge that oversaw it all and it didn’t affect his decision at all, as far as allowing me to have 50-50 custody with my children.”
Tim Tebow is a two-time BCS National Champion and the first underclassman in Florida Gators history to win the Heisman Trophy. Unfortunately, that’s where much of Tebow’s success ended.
Drafted in the first round by the Denver Broncos, Tebow’s NFL career started pretty hot with the college football phenom leading the Broncos to a 7–1 run in his first eight starts. He also led the franchise to its first division title and playoff victory in six years. However, Tebow quickly grew a reputation for struggling throughout a game only to lead his team to a dramatic come-from-behind victory.
Despite finding early success, Tebow was ultimately traded to the New York Jets, followed by the Patriots, Eagles, and Jaguars. Once cut during the preseason in Jacksonville, Tebow’s NFL career was effectively over.
As a result, being dubbed “the next Tim Tebow” in any sport comes with a negative connotation.
Brendan Schaub Compares Bo Nickal to Tim Tebow
During longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan’s UFC 297 fight companion on Saturday night, JRE regular Brendan Schaub made a confusing statement comparing Tim Tebow to highly-touted MMA prospect Bo Nickal that left Rogan at a complete loss for words.
“I think the UFC knows he’s gonna be champ,” Schaub, told a flabbergasted Rogan. “Let it clear up then we’re gonna release the hounds. He has it all. Check, check, check, check … checks all the boxes. He’s the Tim Tebow of f*cking UFC.”
pic.twitter.com/2KdTOtfGEZ
— Bulgarium (@SpringSpringB) January 22, 2024
Joe Rogan’s face at the end of the above clip says it all.
Schaub has previously claimed to be Tebow’s “very good friend,” insisting they “text and call each other all the time.” Clearly, the former UFC heavyweight isn’t familiar with his friend’s brief and unremarkable football career.
Thus far, Nickal is 5-0 in his mixed martial arts career, all of them coming by way of first-round finishes. He’s scheduled to make his third Octagon appearance at the promotion’s next big landmark event, UFC 300, on April 13. The three-time NCAA Division I National Champion will face his toughest test yet in Cody Brundage.
Sean Strickland lost the middleweight championship at UFC 297 to Dricus Du Plessis but many, including UFC President Dana White didn’t agree with the decision.
Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker doesn’t understand why there’s so much controversy surrounding the split decision win for the South African and score the fight for Du Plessis.
“I don’t know why it’s controversial. I’ve seen a lot of other fighters and Dana White himself saying he didn’t think he (Dricus Du Plessis) won the fight, but my opinion, I thought he won the fight. I will say, and I don’t like blurring the lines, but I will say congratulations to Dricus because he wanted it,” said Whittaker on the MMArcade Podcast.
“I talked to a bunch of people and said that he’s a big, strong guy and he’s awkward as hell to fight, but one of his things is he goes out on his shield. He’s not going to go away. He’s not going to give up and he’ll leave the octagon on a stretcher and that’s exactly what he showed. I will say congratulations to the new champ because he wanted it more.”
Whittaker was primed to secured another title shot when he lost to Du Plessis at UFC 290 last July. The win set Du Plessis up to fight for the title shot at UFC 297.
“Dricus did not go away and you saw his face after the fight. The commentators and everybody and their friends wouldn’t shut up about the jab. Understandably. Great jab, and he threw it at Dricus’ face about 7,000 times. But let’s give a little props to Dricus because he didn’t go away. He didn’t go away, was throwing overhands from the start to the literal finish just pushing into him. I think he mentioned it in the post-fight press conference as well, he was beat up from it,” said Whittaker.
“You only fight like that and fight through that being hungry, wanting it, and being willing to leave it all there… I thought personally that he won the fight.”
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