UFC 297 ceremonial weigh-in: What time are the final face-offs?
UFC 297 is set to take place this weekend on Jan. 20, 2024, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The event will be headlined by Sean Strickland, who makes his first middleweight title defence against Dricus du Plessis. A second title fight is also lined up for the co-main as Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva will compete for the vacant women's bantamweight title.
After a successful weigh-in show and a feisty pre-fight press conference earlier this week, fans will have one last chance to see their fighters face-off at the ceremonial weigh-ins before stepping into the octagon.
UFC 297's ceremonial weigh-ins will be livestreamed on the official UFC YouTube channel, which is set to kick-off at on Jan. 19 at 5PM EST/ 2pm PT or 10PM GMT for those watching in the UK.
Canadian fans will also have a chance to see some of their hometown heroes at the ceremonial weigh-ins as both Mike Malott and Marc-Andre Barriault will feature on the main-card.
Malott is looking to extend his seven-fight undefeated streak when he takes on the Neil Magny. As for Barriault, the 33-year-old will hope to make it 3 wins out of 3 when he faces veteran Chris Curtis in a middleweight bout.
Sean Strickland's coach breaks down fighters 'newfound physique' ahead of UFC 297
Sean Strickland's head coach, Eric Nicksick, has provided some details about Strickland's physique ahead of his middleweight title defence against Dricus du Plessis.
Fans were in awe of Strickland this week as he successfully made weight, hitting 184.75lbs on the scales. Fans noted that Strickland looked more ripped than usual and wondered whether the middleweight champ was taking the fight more seriously than he let on.
Nicksick, the head coach of Xtreme Couture MMA, then spoke to ESPN MMA and was asked about Strickland's appearance ahead of UFC 297. He said:
"I don't think anything has really changed in his training element. I think that just because that last fight [against Adesanya] that last pound and a half was a little difficult for [Sean Strickland] to make that championship weight. It's something that for him, he wanted to be better at. Which I love about our athletes."
He continued:
"In that regard, although the fight [against Adesanya] went very well, I think the weight cut could have gone better and this is why I think you're seeing Sean's physique the way it is right now."
Catch Nicksick's comments here (2:05):