UFC 297: How to watch Strickland-Du Plessis, lineup, odds, more

The UFC’s first pay-per-view event of 2024 goes down Saturday in Toronto.

Here’s how to watch UFC 297 with the middleweight and vacant women’s bantamweight titles on the line at the top of the card.

UFC 297 has a main card that begins at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view (via ESPN+). The four-fight prelim card airs on ESPNews at 8 p.m. ET, and three early prelims stream on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Sean Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) will put his middleweight title on the line for the first time since he upset Israel Adesanya in Australia this past fall. Across from him will be Dricus Du Plessis, who started as a major rival of Adesanya, but now is embattled with Strickland both outside and soon to be within the cage. Strickland has three straight wins and is a slight favorite.

Dricus Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has been on a tear since he arrived in the UFC in late 2020. He’s won all six of his UFC fights, including five by stoppage, and eight straight overall. If he wins in a mild upset, he’ll be the first South African champion in UFC history.

Raquel Pennington (15-8 MMA, 12-5 UFC) gets her second shot at a UFC title when she takes on Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant bantamweight belt. Pennington challenged then-champ Amanda Nunes for the belt in 2018, but was stopped with a fifth-round TKO. That set off a stretch of three losses in four fights, but she has five straight wins now and will go after the 135-pound title Nunes vacated when she retired. Amazingly, all five of Pennigton’s UFC losses have been to future champions (Holly Holm, Jessica Andrade), former champions (Germaine de Randamie and Holm again), or the champ herself (Nunes).

Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) officially brings three straight wins into her first UFC title shot. She has bonuses in two of those three fights. She beat ex-champ Holly Holm in July 2023, but it was overturned to a no contest after a failed USADA test.

Serhiy Sidey (10-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his UFC debut in front of his home fans in Canada. The bantamweight takes on fellow debutant Ramon Taveras on the preliminary card. The 27-year-old punched his ticket to the UFC with a first-round KO of Ramon Tavares at Dana White’s Contender Series this past September. It was his sixth straight win. Now he gets Tavares again in a quick rematch. UFC CEO Dana White thought Tavares was shut down too early by the ref in the first fight.

Ramon Taveras (9-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) fought on DWCS and was put away by Serhiy Sidey this past September. Many thought it was an early stoppage, including Dana White, who had Tavares back on DWCS five weeks later – and he delivered a 29-second KO. White quickly announced a rematch with Sidey in the UFC.

• Champ Sean Strickland (-130) vs. Dricus Du Plessis (+115) – for middleweight title
• Raquel Pennington (+140) vs. Mayra Bueno Silva (-165) – for vacant women’s bantamweight title
• Neil Magny (+205) vs. Mike Malott (-250)
• Marc-Andre Barriault (+140) vs. Chris Curtis (-165)
• Arnold Allen (+140) vs. Movsar Evloev (-165)

• Garrett Armfield (+260) vs. Brad Katona (-190)
• Charles Jourdain (-175) vs. Sean Woodson (+135)
• Serhiy Sidey (N/A) vs. Ramon Taveras (N/A)
• Gillian Robertson (-190) vs. Polyana Viana (+160)

• Yohan Lainesse (N/A) vs. Sam Patterson (N/A)
• Priscila Cachoeira (+275) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius (-345)
• Jimmy Flick (+100) vs. Malcolm Gordon (-120)