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UFC 297: DDP Outscores Strickland
- Brian
- Jan 21, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 22, 2024
January 20-- UFC returns to Canada for UFC 297 for the first PPV of the year. Dana must've told everyone to impress the crowd because from beginning to finish we saw these martial artists go ALL-IN against each other with no fear. Since the event was in Canada the UFC took their time constructing their card and filled it with their prime Canadian talent.
UFC EARLY PRELIMS
First up, Malcolm Gordan, the first Canadian on the card finds himself across Jimmy Flick in the flyweight division. It seemed in round one that Gordon was going to be the dominant one early on but Flick seemed ever so confident even after having lost position the whole time, raising his hand as he walked to his stool. In the second Gordan attempted to do the same, initiating takedowns and trying to drive Jimmy Flick to the fence but Flick seemed to be more slippery this time and able to stop the takedowns. In one of those attempts, Malcolm's takedown was stuffed and Flick used a powerful darce choke surprising Gordon and getting him to submit almost instantly.
In the second early prelim bout, Jasmine Jasudavicius who has been on quite the tear comes out guns blazing against Priscila Cachoeira and completely battering her from round one until the end. Jasmine attained top control early and made it rain punches the whole round. In round two Cachoeira seemed to not be discouraged charging right at Jasudavicius but to no avail! Jasmine looked like she was future champion material tonight making Cachoeira's efforts look meaningless throughout the whole bout. In round three after making Cachoeira a bloody mess Jasudavicius finished the fight with an anaconda choke.
Jasmine Jasudavicius: "I wanted to torture her .. like be professional .. get your shit together!"
In the last fight of the early UFC prelims, Sam Patterson made short work of Yohan Lainesse after he took him to the floor early and got his back. Lainesse fell right into a rear naked choke and tapped to the taller man, Sam Patterson.
Sam Patterson: "This is just the beginning for me ... This is the weight class for me"
UFC PRELIMS
After an amazing early prelim card, we move on to the real prelims of the night, although it's hard to tell the difference after such hardcore opening fights. Miami's very own Gillian Robertson makes her return to the UFC octagon with her coach Asim the owner of Goatshed Gym in Miami who is also the president of Karate Combat! How can you lose with a team like that? Robertson went slightly up in competition tonight against Polyana Viana who has also been making waves in the division and one of the more colorful characters.
From the jump, everyone could see Robertson had no interest in trading strikes and took the fight to the ground, where Polyana seemed to be extremely lacking. Robertson started by making it rain strikes until the end of the first. In the second Polyana tried to fend off Gillian Robertson with her strikes but with Robertson just edging closer every second she was unable to get into range and was TKO'd with strikes from above.
Gillian Robertson:" When it comes to the ground, nobody messing with me, that's my world... I want a ranked opponent!"
Our next fight is a rematch featuring fighters who last fought each other in Dana White's Contender Series. Serhiy Sidey vowed to get redemption tonight after losing to Ramon Taveras last year and got his second shot at UFC 297. Throughout the fight, Sidey pressed the pace keeping Taveras on the backfoot. Taveras must've known that Sidey would fight this way because he conserved most of his energy just bouncing around being elusive. Taveras almost puts Sidey out with a flush 1,2 but Sidey was not going to be taken out so fast and fired back catching Taveras as well. This fight may very well be the fight of the night with no stop to the action from beginning to end. Ramon Taveras won again with a split decision of 2-1 on the judges score cards.
Ramon Taveras: "It was never my intention to miss weight... I'm sure I'm going to see him again"
The weirdest fight of the night has to go to Charles Jourdain vs Sean Woodson. Woodson with an extensive boxing resume and insane reach and height advantage cruised to victory tonight keeping Jourdain afar and using his boxing effectively. Jourdain could not land ANYTHING and persisted in taking him down missing all but one, Woodson getting up immediately. By the end, Jourdain had gotten tired of chasing Woodson and the bell rang leaving us with an obvious winner right? When Bruce Buffer announced the winner, which he clearly said Woodson, everyone heard Jourdain for some odd reason. Jourdain celebrated but DC came in quick and explained to the crowd what Buffer said. Talk about a mix-up.
Sean Woodson: "Charles kicks hard as hell... it was a fight just to get to this fight."
In my opinion, this fight might have been a robbery, Brad Katona tried his best against Garrett Armfield. The fight started with Armfield seeming stronger than Brad putting his hands on him first. After an accidental low blow by Brad, Brad started taking Armfield to the ground and stopped a lot of Armfield's offense. After round three it seemed to me that Katona neutralized Armfield in round three making this 2-1 for Brad but I guess the judges saw this differently.
UFC 297 MAIN CARD
Real UFC fans know Arnold Allen could be a future champ but after tonight Movsar Evloev may have taken his shine. Evloev showed that he has some of the highest-level wrestling in the division pushing Arnold to the brink constantly and we saw some of the craziest scrambles in all of MMA. Arnold Allen would not give up and he fought like a warrior until the end but Evloev would win the unanimous decision by way of all three judges. His name is already being mentioned in championship matches and we'll probably see him fight Volk next if Volk wins his next match.
Movsar Evloev: "Everyone waiting for the finish... 18-0 is not easy"
Everyone knows Chris Curtis can bang. Like really. He's had a long career and often gets underestimated. Tonight he took on a difficult fight against Marc-Andre Barriault. I think Dominick Cruz said it best, "how do you fight a counterpuncher?" Barriault stayed patient waiting for Curtis to make a mistake in rounds one and two but in the latter found himself getting tagged more often than not. In the third, both men started trading strikes but Curtis seemed just a bit cleaner. Barriault will still have a prosperous career in the UFC but tonight it was Curtis.
Chris Curtis: "Canada it's been fun but yall are bloodthirsty"
Some veterans end up gatekeeping punching bags in the latter part of their careers but somehow Neil Magny is keeping up with young up-and-coming DAWGS in the UFC. Mike Malott hadn't seen a third round in the octagon until he stepped in there with Magny. In rounds one and two Malott seemed to have won this fight and all he needed to do was cruise to the finish line. His error was taking it easy on Magny towards the end of the round, almost willing to go on the ground with Magny and ends up in the worst position and gets finished on the floor.
UFC 297 CO-MAIN EVENT
There a vacuum of power ever since Amanda Nunez vacated the bantamweight belt and tonight we finally have our new champion. Although this fight may have not been championship material the division gets to progress. Mayra either had an adredaline dump or her cardio just failed her tonight because she was checked out by round two no less. Both fighters have much to work on and a fight with Juliana is around the corner now for Pennington.
Raquel Pennington: "I climbed a mountain to get here... Juliana get better .. it's been ten years since I've waited for that fight!"
UFC 297 MAIN EVENT
Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis have had a lot of history in a short amount of time and tonight they finally got to settle their beef. This fight gave both fighters time to shine, with DDP pushing Strickland harder than anyone besides Pereira. DDP showed incredible fight IQ but Stricklands' jab dictated the fight and his Philly shell style had accumulated a lot of damage by round three. This style requires a closed stance so DDP attempted low kicks and they worked at first but Strickland neutralized them. The high kick disguised as a low kick didn't work either as Strickland was just able to catch him on the inside and outlanding him even.
Round four was Du Plessis's best round catching Strickland from all angles and making him bleed. It would be short-lived as Sean Strickland went all out in round five, before the announcement nobody knew who had won this. Du Plessis achieves gold.
Dricus Du Plessis: "This is history... You are one hell of a man...
MALCOLM GORDON VS JIMMY FLICK(W) SUBMISSION R1 2:03
JASMINE JASUDAVICIUS(W) VS PRISCILA CACHOIERA SUBMISSION R3 04:21
YOHAN LAINESSE VS SAM PATTERSON(W) SUBMISSION R2 01:17
GILLIAN ROBERTSON(W) VS POLYANA VIANA KO/TKO R2 03:12
SERHIY SIDEY VS RAMON TAVERAS(W) DECISION R3 5:00
CHARLES JOURDAIN VS SEAN WOODSON(W) DECISION R3 5:00
BRAD KATONA VS GARRETT ARMFIELD(W) DECISION R3 5:00
ARNOLD ALLEN VS MOVSAR EVLOEV(W) DECISION R3 5:00
CHRIS CURTIS(W) VS MARC-ANDRE BARRIAULT DECISION R3 5:00
NEIL MAGNY(W) VS MIKE MALOTT KO/TKO R3 04:45
RAQUEL PENNINGTON(W) VS MAYRA BUENO SILVA DECISION R5 5:00
SEAN STRICKLAND VS DRICUS DU PLESSIS(W) DECISION R5:00
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