Preview: UFC 297 ‘Strickland vs. Du Plessis’

Middleweights

#14 MW | Chris Curtis (30-10, 4-2 UFC) vs. Marc-Andre Barriault (16-6, 5-5 UFC)

ODDS: Curtis (-175), Barriault (+145)

Barriault looks to have hit a new level, and it’ll be interesting to see how far his improvements will carry him. “Power Bar” came to the UFC as a highly touted prospect but figured to have a rough transition to the major stage. He tended to get by with a straightforward mashing style that won wars of attrition at the regional level but would likely walk him right into his opponent’s offense against better competition. That did indeed hold true for the first few fights of Barriault’s UFC career, but he eventually broke through with two wins in 2021, only to get knocked out by Chidi Njokuani in his first fight of 2022, raising some worries that Barriault’s durability would betray him just as he was putting things together. Instead, Barriault has rebounded into the best form of his career, aided by a switch in training camps. He has been a more patient and effective fighter, and his win over Eryk Anders last June saw him show off a slick range striking game, something that would’ve been unthinkable just a few years prior. Barriault looks for the biggest win of his career to date against Curtis, who’s looking to leave a disappointing 2023 in the dust.

Curtis had 12 and a half years as a professional under his belt before finally getting the UFC call in 2021, and “The Action Man” made the chance count, scoring knockouts of Phil Hawes and Brendan Allen as part of a three-fight winning streak to kick off his UFC career. Curtis is a pleasure to watch, as he has enough experience to put every tool in his toolbox to good use, taking advantage of every opportunity to land offense and slowly break down his opponents. That made defensive works in progress like Hawes and Allen sitting ducks for Curtis’ approach, though the American has now hit a clear ceiling while attempting to break into the middleweight Top 10. Curtis’ first fight of 2023, a narrow decision loss to Kelvin Gastelum that had some controversy due to an accidental headbutt, saw him have to keep pace with an opponent with enough durability to keep eating offense and marching forward, and fights against Jack Hermansson and Nassourdine Imavov saw the undersized Curtis simply struggle to get much done against larger opponents willing to lean on their size. Coming off the fight with Imavov last June—a no contest that also involved an inadvertent clash of heads—there is a worry that Barriault, who doesn’t have a long frame but is quite broadly built, could thread the needle to beat Curtis, whether it’s by relying on his new slicker style or just turning back the clock and grinding on Curtis for 15 minutes. While there are some potential pitfalls, the lean here is to have enough faith in Curtis’ intelligence and experience to find something that works against an opponent that still doesn’t have a ton of technical depth. The pick is Curtis via decision.

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