3 biggest storylines ahead of UFC 297

The first UFC pay-per-view event of 2024 is upon us.

In Saturday's UFC 297 main event, Sean Strickland looks to remain middleweight champion in his first title defense against Dricus Du Plessis. In the co-main event, Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva vie for the vacant women's bantamweight crown.

Here are three key storylines ahead of the UFC's return to Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Will Strickland's unlikely reign continue?

If anyone's keeping track, Strickland wasn't supposed to be here.

The middleweight champion has already defied the odds in more ways than one in the last six months. Last summer, Du Plessis was next in line to challenge then-champ Israel Adesanya, but he came out of his knockout win over Robert Whittaker with a foot injury and wasn't able to accept the title fight. The UFC called Strickland - who suffered back-to-back losses in 2022 but had rebounded with two wins over mid-tier competition earlier in 2023 - to fight for the belt in Du Plessis' place.

Strickland entered the Adesanya fight last September as a lofty underdog and scored one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, dropping the former champ in the first round and outstriking him throughout their 25-minute bout to earn a lopsided unanimous decision victory.

UFC CEO Dana White was initially interested in an immediate rematch, but after Adesanya decided to take an extended hiatus from competition, Du Plessis got his shot at 185-pound supremacy.

It's a very even fight on paper, with Strickland's dedicated boxing style against Du Plessis' unorthodox and powerful stand-up game making for an intriguing matchup. Strickland is listed as a small -140 favorite on theScore Bet.

While the public does have some faith in Strickland, the biggest question heading into his fight against Du Plessis still centers around how long this Cinderella title reign can last. Beating Adesanya was extremely impressive, but everyone knows defending a championship - repeatedly - is the hardest thing to do in combat sports. Not many people think Strickland will still hold the title at the end of 2024, but this is his opportunity to show he's better than we think.

Is Strickland cut out for a long reign? If Du Plessis wins, will even he be champ for long? Or is it just a matter of time before Khamzat Chimaev strangles either one of them? Either way, we'll have some more answers after Saturday.

The post-Nunes era of women's bantamweight

Seven months after Amanda Nunes ceremoniously retired after a UFC 289 title defense, the women's bantamweight division will finally move on and a new champion will be crowned.

The biggest question is what the weight class will look like following the departure of the greatest women's MMA fighter of all time. Women's bantamweight has long been considered one of the UFC's shallowest and least intriguing divisions, with Nunes running through her competition left and right (aside from the first Julianna Pena fight). But that could change with Pennington and Bueno Silva set to battle for the vacant title.

Of course, either Pennington or Bueno Silva could assert herself as the new women's bantamweight queen, dominating the UFC 297 co-main event and then defending the belt once or twice before the calendar flips to a new year. That would be quite the statement. But perhaps the more likely scenario is what happened after longtime champion Ronda Rousey was dethroned by Holly Holm in 2015. Holm was the champ for just four months, and then her successor, Miesha Tate, also held the belt for only four months before Nunes began her legendary reign.

The belt was tossed around like a game of hot potato for a while after Rousey's reign, and that could happen again. Former champ Pena will be in the mix to face the Pennington-Bueno Silva winner, and given the fact she upset Nunes in 2021, Pena would be at the very least a live underdog against either woman. Plus, former featherweight champ Germaine de Randamie is set to make her UFC return in April after nearly four years away. Despite the layoff (which was a result of De Randamie's pregnancy), if she impresses against Norma Dumont, another bantamweight title shot could be coming her way.

So, yes, what happens next is anybody's guess. Welcome to the post-Nunes era.

Will the Canadian takeover continue?

Nine Canadians are hoping to pick up wins at UFC 297 in Toronto and follow up on the magic that fans witnessed in Vancouver last year. The promotion returned north of the border for the first time since the pandemic in June, and the event was a resounding success - all six Canadian-based fighters emerged victorious.

Let's be real: There hasn't been this much hope for Canadian MMA at a high level since the tandem of Georges St-Pierre and Rory MacDonald in the early 2010s.

The fighter unofficially leading this generation's Canadian takeover is Mike Malott, a welterweight who trains out of the budding Niagara Top Team gym in southern Ontario and is 3-0 in the UFC with three finishes. Malott, 32, will have a chance to crack into the top 15 at 170 pounds when he faces perennial contender Neil Magny on Saturday's main card. If Malott beats Magny, Canada might just have another welterweight contender and/or star on its hands.

Following close behind are the likes of middleweight Marc-Andre Barriault, featherweight Charles Jourdain, two-time "The Ultimate Fighter" winner Brad Katona, and Jasmine Jasudavicius, all of whom are scheduled to compete at UFC 297.

We're still a ways away from another Canadian UFC champion, but this is the most promising crop of Canadian fighters in the last several years. Another big night for Canadians this weekend could have White calling the country the mecca of MMA again.