SUMMARY
- Sean Strickland will be fighting against Dricus du Plessis, making his first title defense in the main event at UFC 297.
- Dana White made the official announcement for the numbers at UFC 297 during the pre-fight press conference.
The first UFC promotional PPV event for the year 2024 is upon us and making big numbers. With UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland headlining against No. 2 ranked Dricus du Plessis, Strickland will be making his first title defense in the main event. The co-main event would be women’s bantamweight Raquel Pennington going up against Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant title.
UFC President Dana White made the official announcement for the numbers at UFC 297 during the pre-fight press conference. An impressive turnout was seen with a gate value of $7.6 million and a sold-out attendance of 18,100. White was quite happy with the figure and thanked the crowd for showing up in such huge numbers.
The fixture will also feature bouts between welterweights Neil Magny and Mike Malott. Also, middleweight Chris Curtis would be going up against Marc-Andre Barriault. This main card would be opened by featherweight Arnold Allen squaring up to Movsar Evloev. Initially, it was to be headlined by featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria, which got pushed to UFC 298.
Sean Strickland vs Dricus du Plessis breaks UFC Gate record in Toronto by beating Jon Jones
The UFC 297 was perhaps not the most anticipated event for MMA fans, as it supposedly lacked depth in the lineup. However, things have changed after seeing the high numbers that the event produced. This can a lot be attributed to the rivalry that developed between the two featured fighters, Strickland and Du Plessis. The personal trash talks, UFC 296 brawl, and animosity certainly helped the event in its promotion.
Would be the highest announced gate for a UFC event at the arena. Previous high was UFC 140, $3.9M (when it was called Air Canada Centre).
Highest announced attendance for a UFC event at the arena was UFC 231: 19,039.#UFC297 https://t.co/0arBMT2HMc
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) January 18, 2024
This is also reportedly the highest gate revenue drawn by the organization at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. The previous record gate numbers were at UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida at the earlier-named Air Canada Centre at $3.9 million. This does show the impact of storyline and marketing on attracting audiences. Strickland is also highly active on social media, becoming a major crowd-puller.
Reported fight purses for UFC 297: Sean Strickland vs Dricus du Plessis
Let’s have a look at how much the fighters involved in this opening promotional UFC event are taking home. These reported numbers are from the official site of The Sports Daily, which states that the star of the show, Sean Strickland, would be taking home an estimated $542,000. His opponent, Dricus, although not having the same star power, would be making around $382,000 through PPV buys.
The women’s strawweight championship challengers would get $282,000 each. Welterweights Neil Magny and Mike Malott would be cashing in $156,000 and $54,500, respectively. The other middleweight fighters, Chris Curtis and Marc-Andre Barriault would be paid around $91,000 and $86,000, respectively.
The opening main card fighters, Arnold Allen and Movsar Evloev would make $111,000 and $86,000, respectively. These numbers would exclude the fight of the night and performance of the night bonuses, as well as sponsorship deals involved.