Preview: UFC 297 ‘Strickland vs. Du Plessis’

UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship

#3 WBW | Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1, 5-2-1 UFC) vs. #12 P4P | Raquel Pennington (15-8, 12-5 UFC)

ODDS: Bueno Silva (-170), Pennington (+142)

After Amanda Nunes’ retirement in June, the UFC finally crowns a new women’s bantamweight champion seven months later in what would be a nice story either way. Pennington finding championship gold would be a crowning achievement as part of a long-underrated career, while a Bueno Silva victory would bring some much-needed fresh blood to the top of the division. Pennington joined the UFC after a stint on the 2013 season of TUF that helped fill out their female ranks, and “Rocky” figured to be a divisional stalwart from there as a tough and consistent fighter. There just didn’t figure to be much of a championship ceiling in her future, owing in part to her lack of any high-level athleticism. Pennington had a bit of a rough start to her UFC career early on, losing fights to future champs Jessica Andrade and Holly Holm, but her ability to plug away at her opponents led to a four-fight winning streak that was capped off by a win over former champ Miesha Tate, which seemingly set up Pennington for a title shot against Nunes. However, Pennington’s career nearly ended just as it appeared to be hitting its peak. She nearly lost her leg in an ATV accident, taking her out of action for 18 months. Somewhat surprisingly, the title shot against Nunes was still waiting for Pennington upon her return, but the fight itself was part of a rough 2018 for Pennington in her comeback. Her loss to Nunes was an extended beating that felt career-threatening in the moment, particularly after another flat loss against Germaine de Randamie as Pennington worked her way back into a groove. From 2019 on, Pennington has snapped into her career-best form and kept winning to the point that she’s now undeniable. There’s little in the way of flashy dynamism, though her last bout against Ketlen Vieira was one of the most entertaining scraps of her career. Pennington keeps getting wins over the finish line, and after five straight victories, she takes on Bueno Silva for the vacant belt.

Bueno Silva’s success since moving up to bantamweight has been a bit of a shock, if only because “Sheetara” wasn’t much of a going concern during her time at flyweight. A plodding striker with a vicious grappling game, the Brazilian was able to snatch some violent submission victories on the mat but just as often found herself frozen out of her game in some uninspiring losses. Bueno Silva moved up to 135 pounds at the beginning of 2022, and even the early returns weren’t all that great. She handily beat Yanan Wu, but her inability to find a finish in such a winnable fight didn’t portend much in the way of future success. Then she found some submission wins over Stephanie Egger and Lina Lansberg, which was enough to put her in a headlining spot against Holm. That figured to be the latest instance of a rising bantamweight hitting their ceiling against Holm, whose combination of speed and power has historically been enough to frustrate most opponents. Instead, Bueno Silva put in the strongest performance of her career. Holm was clearly having difficulty keeping Bueno Silva at bay in the first round, then fell victim to a standing choke almost immediately upon the start of the second round. Bueno Silva’s had enough flat performances over the course of her UFC career that her success feels a bit low-percentage, particularly heading into a fight against an opponent as consistent as Pennington, but the Brazilian does seem like the safer bet to walk away with the title here. Beyond the fact that she’s the only one of the two with any level of finishing ability, her performance against Holm showed that she might be able to hang athletically with nearly anyone in the division, so if the Brazilian doesn’t find the finish, she might just be able to pour on the pressure and physically overwhelm Pennington for 25 minutes. A Pennington victory wouldn’t be a shock since she feels like the much more proven bet to keep up her cardio for five rounds and could just negate a lot of Bueno Silva’s grappling weapons, but the younger contender does look to have a lot more paths to victory. The main hope is that this winds up as more of a fun scrap than two fighters canceling each other out. The pick is Bueno Silva via decision.

Jump To »
Strickland vs. Du Plessis
Bueno Silva vs. Pennington
Malott vs. Magny
Curtis vs. Barriault
Evloev vs. Allen
The Prelims