UFC fans label the last seconds of Sean Strickland vs Dricus Du Plessis as some of ‘the most exciting ever’ as South African dethrones controversial Australian at UFC 297
- Dricus du Plessis won 48-47, 47-48, 48-47 after five extremely exciting rounds
- He became the first South African UFC champion and had to dig deep for victory
- Viewers were left on their feet as the exciting fight came to an end
UFC fans gave a standing ovation as the middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland came to a close on Saturday.
Du Plessis claimed a split-decision victory and the UFC middleweight title at UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, becoming South Africa’s first world champion in the promotion.
It was a fight that lasted all five rounds and the final seconds summed up what a fight it was.
Both men continued to flail as the fight entered its final 10 seconds, with commentator Jon Anik saying the forecast was for a war and that’s exactly what they got.
Viewers quickly took to social media with one tweet: “one of the most exciting seconds I’ve seen in a fight yet.”
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Fans were on their feet as the middleweight title fight ended with both men flailing
Another wrote: “Always respect when the champions put on a show and go out swinging.”
‘So good’, ‘what a fight’ and ‘an absolute war’ were just some of the many other positive comments
Despite some solid blows from Strickland, who won the title in September with a huge defeat to Israel Adesanya, Du Plessis had the better of the opening exchanges.
The 30-year-old continued to push the American back in subsequent rounds, but while he enjoyed great success with takedowns, he was unable to keep Strickland on the mat for any length of time.
Du Plesis continued to mix up his punches, aiming pounding kicks to the body and landing several high left kicks to keep Strickland guessing.
With a stream of blood pouring from a cut on his left eye, Strickland opened with a series of huge punches late in the final round, but could not find a finish and the fight went to the judges’ scorecards.
Du Plessis secured the split-decision victory and sank to his knees in tears before thanking his coaches.
āI honestly thought with the takedowns that I took care of it in every round. I felt it was close, I definitely gave him the first round,ā a triumphant Du Plesis said in a post-fight interview before calling out former champion Adesanya.
In the co-main event, Raquel Pennington came on strong in the final two rounds to earn a unanimous decision win over Mayra Bueno Silva to take the vacant women’s bantamweight crown.