Sean Strickland is slightly favored against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis on Saturday, January 20 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This event is one of five fights on the main pay-per-view card. Strickland is 28-5 in his career, while Du Plessis is 20-2 in his career. There are a total of 12 fights, with five on Pay-Per-View, four on ESPNews/ESPN+, and three on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass at UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis. Let’s look at the bout between Strickland and Du Plessis and UFC predictions.
UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis takes place at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Saturday, January 20 with 12 fights with five Pay-Per-View, four on ESPNews/ESPN+, and three on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis Betting
Sean Strickland (28-5, 15-5 UFC)
Strickland came into the UFC with a record of 13-0 and he has 15 wins and five losses in the UFC. In his last six fights, he has four wins and two losses. He defeated Jack Hermansson by split decision, Nassourdine Imavov by unanimous decision, Abusupiyan Magomedov by TKO, and Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision; while losing to Alex Pereira by KO and Jared Cannonier by split decision. Strickland has been a pro since 2008 and he has 11 wins by TKO/KO and four by submission. He has nine first round finishes.
Dricus Du Plessis (20-2, 6-0 UFC)
Du Plessis came into the UFC with a record of 14-2 and he has six wins and no losses in the UFC. He defeated Markus Perez by KO, Trevin Giles by KO, Brad Tavares by unanimous decision, Darren Till by face crank, Derek Brunson by TKO, and Robert Whittaker by TKO. Du Plessis’s last loss in his career was against Roberto Soldic by KO in October of 2018. Du Plessis has been a pro since 2013 and he has nine wins by TKO/KO and 10 by submission. He has eight first round finishes.
Du Plessis said this to mmajunkie.usatoday.com about his upcoming fight against Strickland, “If this is a Sean Strickland fight of punching really, really, really soft and jab, jab, jab, if that’s the case – which it won’t be (because) I won’t allow it – then I’ll be there in the fifth round making sure I win this fight by decision. That’s what it takes to become the world champion. But in my honest opinion, this fight is not going the distance. There’s no way. He’s a guy who walks forward. I’m a guy who likes to go forward. I’ve said this and this is one thing. This is the fight game. Anything can always happen, but I can promise you this. I’ve never been involved in a boring fight in my life and I promise you I won’t because a boring fight is a choice. I know it’s not going to be boring. This is going to be one of those fights. If he can stay standing, if he can take what I give, this is a Fight of the Year contender, 100 percent. I have one decision in my whole career, and that’s Brad Tavares. In that fight, we came to a situation where the fight basically, if you look at the punches thrown in that fight, just the punch count, look at that fight again. You’ll see what I’m made of. You look at a guy like Brad Tavares, who is truly one of the most durable guys in the world. When he got to that third round, he definitely won the first round. I won the second. In the third round, the commentators were saying, ‘Dricus is tired. He’s really tired.’ It doesn’t matter how tired I am. I’m going to do what I need to do to win the fight. … This is the end of Dricus not as a champion. That ends next week, Saturday.”
Strikes landed per minute: Strickland 5.82 / Du Plessis 6.95
Striking Accuracy: Strickland 41% / Du Plessis 55%
Strikes absorbed per minute: Strickland 4.24 / Du Plessis 3.79
Defense: Strickland 63% / Du Plessis 53%
Grappling Stats
Takedown average: Strickland 0.92/ Du Plessis 2.72
Takedown Accuracy: Strickland 64% / Du Plessis 50%
Takedowns defended: Strickland 84% / Du Plessis 40%
Submission average: Strickland 0.2/ Du Plessis 1.1
UFC Picks
Is Du Plessis ready for a title shot against Strickland? I am not so sure, as his UFC resume doesn’t stand out to me. Who has he beaten that is in the class of Strickland? Maybe Du Plessis is championship material but until I see it, I am not convinced. I’ll take Strickland to win this fight.
| DATE | FIGHTERS | MONEY LINE |
| 01/20 | Dricus Du Plessis | +110 |
| Sean Strickland | -140 |
| 01/20 | Raquel Pennington | +131 |
| Mayra Bueno Silva | -165 |
| 01/20 | Neil Magny | +292 |
| Mike Malott | -400 |
| 01/20 | Arnold Allen | +161 |
| Movsar Evloev | -205 |
| 01/20 | Garrett Armfield | +158 |
| Brad Katona | -200 |
| 01/20 | Marc-Andre Barriault | +176 |
| Chris Curtis | -225 |
| 01/20 | Sean Woodson | +150 |
| Charles Jourdain | -190 |
| 01/20 | Ramon Taveras | +139 |
| Serhiy Sidey | -175 |
| 01/20 | Polyana Viana | +201 |
| Gillian Robertson | -260 |
| 01/20 | Priscila Cachoeira | +280 |
| Jasmine Jasudavicius | -380 |
| 01/20 | Sam Patterson | +124 |
| Yohan Lainesse | -155 |
| 01/20 | Jimmy Flick | +165 |
| Malcolm Gordon | -210 |
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