LOOK: Dricus du Plessis headlines UFC 297 with title fight poster revealed

Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa is introduced before facing Darren Till of England in a middleweight fight during the UFC 282 event at T-Mobile Arena on December 10, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada

SA’s Dricus du Plessis secured the title fight with his stoppage win over former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC earlier this year. Picture: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images/AFP

Published Dec 13, 2023

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Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland top the two-title fight card at UFC 297 in Toronto, Canada, on January 20.

The poster for the fight was revealed this week, which features both Du Plessis and Strickland facing each other for the UFC middleweight title.

Du Plessis secured the title fight with his stoppage win over former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC earlier this year.

Du Plessis remains unbeaten in the ‘most popular and competitive MMA organisation in the world’.

Fight finally happening

In fact, Du Plessis having already won the right to fight for the middleweight title was due to face Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September. However, Du Plessis was nursing a foot injury from his previous fight in July and had to pull out.

In what was seen as an unfair move, certainly for the South African, the UFC moved on to give the lower-ranked Stickland the title shot. It would turn out to be one of the greatest upsets in UFC history as Strickland beat Adesanya to win the title.

Sean Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick told InsideFighting what he expects of the fight: "I think it's going to be a matter of setting the precedence on the pace. I feel like Dricus is going to come out hard and heavy and fast right away and we're gonna have to kind of manage that pace in the first couple rounds and then once Sean gets into the fight, then I think that's when Sean's really going to take over but I expect it to be a barnburner man.

"Both of these guys are right where they belong and I was always told by Randy (Couture), it's something I always look at is, the hardest fight of your career is your first title defense so it's going to be up to us to make sure we're on our P's and Q’s.”