UFC 297 scorecards: How did the judges score the main and co-main event?
The official UFC 297 main and co-main events' scorecards have been released.
On Saturday night, the UFC held its first pay-per-view event of 2024 when they traveled to the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. UFC 297 wasn’t overly friendly to the hometown crowd, as Canadian fighters went 2-7. But the two newest UFC champions will never forget the date.
Firstly, Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva met in the co-main event with the vacant women’s bantamweight title on the line. Bueno Silva looked impressive early, but her cardio ultimately failed her, leading to Pennington controlling the latter rounds.
The scorecards for Pennington vs. Bueno Silva were 49-46 x2 (Eric Colon and Sal D’Amato) and 49-45 (Saleem Haniff). The only difference was that Haniff scored the fifth round 10-8 for the new women’s bantamweight queen, Pennington.
Meanwhile, the main event between Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis was action-packed. Strickland looked phenomenal in the first two rounds because of his jab, but he slowed down in the latter rounds, which Du Plessis capitalized on.
Once the dust settled, Du Plessis was crowned the new UFC middleweight champion by split decision with the following scorecards: 48-47 x2 for Du Plessis (Derek Cleary and Eric Coloan) and 48-47 Strickland (Sal D’Amato).
Dana White believes Sean Strickland should have been awarded UFC 297 main event decision
Following the UFC 297 main event, plenty of people thought Sean Strickland deserved to have his hand raised. The argument was supported by rounds two and three being close, with Dricus du Plessis awarded both by two judges.
During the UFC 297 post-fight press conference, Dana White had this to say about his opinion on the main event decision:
“I had it 2-2 going into the last round, and I thought Strickland won the last round. Guys who were sitting at the same table had it the other way. You know, it was a close fight. I thought Strickland looked great in the first two rounds. I mean, the jab was f*cking beautiful. You don’t see jabs like that in MMA. And the jabs did what they’re supposed to do. Both of his [Du Plessis] eyes were swollen shut."
After getting his hand raised, Dricus du Plessis called out former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. It’s unclear when Adesanya plans to return from his time away, but Dana White didn’t count out the possibility of Du Plessis and Adesanya headlining UFC 300 on April 13.
Watch Dana White talk about the UFC 297 main event scorecards below: