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The UFC 297 fighter bonuses were announced by UFC President Dana White during the event’s post-fight press conference early Sunday morning on the East Coast.  Two new champions were crowned inside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.  

Fight of the Night honors went to the middleweight title bout main event.  Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland to win the 185-pound championship via split decision.  The fight was Strickland’s first title defense and the first time Du Plessis had gone the distance in his decade-long career.  

As if there was another choice 😮‍💨@SStricklandMMA & @DricusDuPlessis earned tonight's FOTN

[ B2YB @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/VCUVkyw6fh

— UFC (@ufc) January 21, 2024

Women’s bantamweight Jasmine Jasudavicius earned a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus for her third-round submission win over Priscila Cachoeira on the early preliminary fight card.  Jasudavicius caught Cachoeira in an anaconda choke late in the final round to take home an extra $ 50,000.

Women’s strawweight Gillian Robertson was awarded a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus for her second-round TKO win over Polyana Viana on the preliminary card.  Robertson’s grappling is world class and she showed it by taking Viana down, mounting her and delivering punches and elbows to get the stoppage.  

Two outstanding performances 👏
Two big bonuses 💰

[ B2YB @PrimeHydrate ] pic.twitter.com/eI5jlaIvJ1

— UFC (@ufc) January 21, 2024

The UFC 297 gate as $ 8 million (US), the highest grossing event in Scotiabank Arena history and the highest grossing arena event in Canada. 18,559 spectators witnessed the event live. 

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“Stillknocks” is down for UFC 300.

Dricus Du Plessis made UFC history at UFC 297 last night on ESPN+ PPV (Sat., Jan. 20, 2024) when he became the first South African champion as he defeated Sean Strickland via a very close split decision (check the scorecard) from inside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (watch highlights).

Of course, while Du Plessis most likely wants to chill and celebrate his historic win for a couple of days, his next title defense might be in three months at UFC 300 if he wants it … and he revealed it does sound awesome.

“I mean, I’m pretty banged up right now. I don’t feel like- listen, I’m up for another round if they want to go right now. But yeah, I don’t want to put a timeline on it. But UFC 300 sounds amazing,” Du Plessis told reporters during the UFC 297 post-fight press conference (watch here).

If the new Middleweight champion does want to turn around and fight quickly, there is one man he has his eyes set on: Isreal Adesanya.

“It’s nothing personal. It’s not personal at all. That’s just the fight the fans want to see,” Du Plessis said. “I want to fight the best competition. There’s a lot of guys I’m going to be fighting but the fans want to see Israel Adesanya versus Dricus Du Plessis. There’s a lot of hype that was already built on it…that’s just a fight on top of my head that I think the people want to see, and that’s going to get a lot of people excited.”

The new Middleweight champion is correct; he and Adesanya already have a lot of hype (and some bad blood). And the story is already written … it just needs to be finished.

It all comes down to whether Du Plessis is medically cleared for UFC 300 in April and if Adesanya wants to return from his mysterious break.

Nevertheless, Du Plessis is riding a nine-fight win streak and is 7-0 inside the UFC.

For complete UFC 297 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.

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Sean Strickland lost a split decision in his battle with Dricus du Plessis in the UFC 297 main event, but UFC CEO Dana White believes he deserved to get the win.

White acknowledged the five-round fight was extremely close, and both fighters definitely had their moments. He takes nothing away from du Plessis for his effort, but if he was scoring the fight, Strickland would be leaving Toronto with the UFC middleweight title still around his waist.

“We were just looking at how the media had scored it and right down the middle,” White said at the UFC 297 post-fight press conference. “I had it 2-2 going into the last round and I thought that Strickland won the last round. Guys who were sitting at the same table had it the other way. It was a close fight.”

Strickland started the fight strong with a lead jab that poured on a lot of punishment, but du Plessis weathered the storm and then delivered damage of his own during the bloody, back-and-forth battle.

White praised Strickland’s performance, particularly regarding his best weapon on the feet, which also played a massive part in winning the title this past September.

“I thought Strickland looked great in the first two rounds,” White said. “The jab was f****** beautiful. You don’t see jabs like that in MMA. The jab did what it was supposed to do. Both of [du Plessis’] eyes were swelling shut. He slowed down in the third and fourth, [and] du Plessis kept coming forward then started mixing up takedowns and punches.”

Ultimately, White felt the fight really came down to the final five minutes, and all three judges actually agreed that Strickland won that round.

“I had it even going into the fifth round, and this is the round to see who wants it,” White said. “They both started to turn it up a little bit. It’s just one of those tight fights, but I’m also one of these guys I believe you’ve got to take it from the champion.”

Despite his feelings on the decision, White didn’t cry robbery or feel like du Plessis didn’t deserve to celebrate his victory in becoming the new UFC middleweight champion. It’s also safe to say du Plessis disagreed with White’s assessment after learning that the UFC CEO scored the fight for Strickland.

“Just for the record, are there some people that think I lost the fight?” du Plessis said at the post-fight press conference. “Dana said [I lost the fight]? Well, bulls***.”

Immediately following his win, du Plessis wasted no time calling out former champion Israel Adesanya after they were originally expected to meet last year. Unfortunately, du Plessis suffered an injury that prevented him from competing, and it was Strickland who took his spot, making the most of it.

There’s no telling for certain if the UFC will shift gears toward du Plessis vs. Adesanya next, but it’s definitely possible, especially with Strickland likely back in line as a contender again.

Regardless how he scored the fight, or how the UFC 297 main event ended in a split decision, White admitted it’s highly unlikely Strickland would see du Plessis again right away.

“Eventually, these two are going to end up fighting again, I’m sure,” White said. “But we’re not thinking about an immediate rematch right now.”

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UFC CEO Dana White fully supports his fighters’ rights to free speech.

In recent years, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has seen a significant uptick in athletes taking things to unnecessarily personal levels to sell a fight. It’s not a new concept as fighters such as Chael Sonnen and Conor McGregor have made quite the career for themselves by engaging in a series of over-the-top confrontations with their opponents.

However, former middleweight world champion Sean Strickland has seemingly taken things to an entirely new level with his often-hilarious, yet sometimes vile commentaries on certain subjects. In particular, his stance on the LGBTQ+ community and transgender individuals. Ahead of his UFC 297 title tilt with Dricus Du Plessis, Strickland was asked about his past comments disparaging the gay community by a Canadian journalist during a pre-fight media scrum.

As expected, Strickland went into total meltdown mode, lambasting the journalist in another homophobic rant that understandably rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

Speaking with members of the press following Saturday’s UFC 297 card at Scotiabank Arena, Dana White was asked about the freedom he gives his athletes to say whatever they want and whether or not he has ever considered asking fighters like Strickland to “tone it down.”

In his response, White specifically accused the Canadian journalist of baiting Sean Strickland.

“I don’t try to tell anybody to do anything,” White said. “I don’t try to control any other human being in any way, shape, or form. I say it all the time. We’re in the fight business. If you get your feelings hurt that bad, you probably should ask the type of questions where you know the answer you’re going to get from Strickland. Let’s start there. If you ask him… You know who he is, and if you ask him a certain question… He was baited in that question.

“I don’t give anybody a leash, a leash. Free speech, White continued. “control what people say and tell people what to believe. I don’t f*cking tell any other human being what to say, what to think, and no leashes aren’t any of them. That’s ridiculous to say I give somebody a leash. Free speech, brother. People can say whatever they want; they can believe whatever they want.” 

Strickland came up short in his first middleweight title defense, dropping a closely contested split decision to Dricus Du Plessis. White revealed during the post-fight press conference that the promotion is not considering an immediate rematch between the two.

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Dricus du Plessis is the new UFC middleweight champion after defeating Sean Strickland via split decision in the main event of UFC 297. While the fight was very close, did the judges get it right?

Following Saturday’s pay-per-view event, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Shaun Al-Shatti, and Jed Meshew react to the scorecards, du Plessis’ championship win, and what will be next for the new champion.

Additionally, they’ll discuss Raquel Pennington’s bantamweight title win against Mayra Bueno Silva, her likely first title defense against Julianna Pena, the overall grade for the promotion’s first PPV event of 2024, Movsar Evloev’s impressive win over Arnold Allen and where it puts him at 145 pounds, and more.

Watch the UFC 297 post-fight show above, or an audio-only version of the show can also be streamed below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your pods.

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