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Dricus Du Plessis took the middleweight title from Sean Strickland at UFC 297 on Saturday, beating the controversial American via split decision.
Strickland won the belt from Israel Adesanya in September, in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, but his first defence was an unsuccessful one.
Du Plessis entered the main event on the back of a surprise TKO of former champion Robert Whittaker last July, and although the South African failed to replicate that explosive performance, he just did enough to emerge victorious.
After five rounds, the judges’ scorecards read 48-47, 47-48, 48-47 in favour of Du Plessis, though the result could easily have gone the other way.
Many fans expected an intense, scrappy brawl between Strickland, 32, and Du Plessis, 30, but the bout took a while to get going. The champion was fighting well behind his jab and front kick, while the challenger was switching stances and landing sporadic takedowns but failing to maintain control.
After two rounds, Du Plessis’s left eye had swollen almost completely shut, but “Stillknocks” was able to fight through the setback and land a series of lunging overhands, cutting Strickland badly around the champion’s own left eye.
Du Plessis won a split decision in Toronto, Canada
(Getty Images)
The action set up a seemingly decisive final round, which Strickland appeared to win with further displays of tidy striking. However, the second and third frames were particularly close, and Du Plessis was ultimately named the victor in Toronto.
He used his post-fight interview in the Octagon to call out Adesanya, whom he was due to challenge in September. Du Plessis suffered an injury ahead of that planned bout, leading Strickland to challenge Adesanya instead.
What followed was a historic upset, as Strickland outpointed the two-time to champion. The result also set up UFC 297’s main event, where Du Plessis’s patience was rewarded.