UFC 297 Bonus Report: Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland take home ‘FOTN’

The Octagon returned to Toronto for tonight’s UFC 297 event, a twelve-bout fight card headlined by Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis.

The highly anticipated middleweight title fight proved to be an epic back and forth affair. Sean Strickland had a great opening round, busting up the left eye of the challenger with a flurry of jabs. However, Dricus Du Plessis was able to turn the tide in rounds two and three, using his pace and forward pressure to get a slight edge on the American. After a highly productive fourth round, most fans and analysts had the fight either 3-1 for Du Plessis or all tied up at 2-2 headed into the fifth and final round. Although ‘Tarzan’ seemingly got the better of the South African in Round 5, it did not prove to be enough to retain the middleweight championship.

UFC 297 was co-headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight, as Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva squared off for the promotion’s vacant 135lbs title. The contest resulted in a hard fought back and forth affair. Mayra Bueno Silva had a strong opening round, but ‘Rocky’ came back strongly in round two to seemingly even up the scorecards. After the opening ten minutes, Silva was clearly growing fatigued and that only got worse as the fight progressed. Pennington dominated the final ten minutes, nearly scoring a submission finish towards the end of round five.

Following the conclusion of tonight’s event, UFC officials announced at the post-fight press conference that four fighters would be taking home performance bonuses.

Fight of the night: Middleweight fighters Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland each pocketed $50k for their thrilling war in tonight’s UFC 297 main event. ‘DDP’ ultimately won the contest by split decision.

Performance of the night: Jasmine Jasudavicius earned an extra $50k for her third-round submission victory over Priscila Cachoeira (see that here).

Performance of the night: Gillian Robertson pocketed an extra $50k for her second-round TKO victory over Polyana Viana (see that here).

Are you surprised by any of the performance bonuses handed out by Dana White and company following the conclusion of tonight’s UFC 297 event in Toronto? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!