TORONTO -- The UFC has its first champion from South Africa.
Dricus Du Plessis dethroned Sean Strickland in an entertaining, bloody, back-and-forth fight Saturday night in the main event of UFC 297 here at Scotiabank Arena. The final result of the close bout was a split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) for Du Plessis.
It very easily could have gone Strickland's way, too. Upon the scorecards being read, Du Plessis called for the South African flag.
"This is history," Du Plessis said in his postfight interview.
Full recap of Du Plessis-Strickland
In the co-main event at UFC 297, Raquel Pennington defeated Mayra Bueno Silva to win the vacant UFC women's bantamweight title. Amanda Nunes, the division's longtime champion and the best women's MMA fighter of all time, retired last June, leaving the belt without an owner.
Pennington battled through a number of submission attempts from Bueno Silva throughout the fight, as she emerged with the unanimous decision victory.
"It's been a long five years getting back to this...," said Pennington after the fight. "I've had to climb mountains to get back here."
Full recap of Pennington-Bueno Silva
Here's how Marc Raimondi, Brett Okamoto, Dre Waters and Jeff Wagenheim saw the action on Saturday night:
