The UFC Middleweight title was up for grabs last night in a bout against the division champion, Sean Strickland, and the challenger Dricus Du Plessis. Strickland took the early advantage over Du Plessis in rounds one and two, but Du Plessis started to turn up the heat in the later rounds. UFC president Dana White spoke on the scoring cards heading into the fifth round, sharing insight on who he believes won the fight.

“I had it 2-2 going into the last round and I thought Strickland won the last round,” White said. “Guys who were sitting at the same table [as me] had it going the other way. … But I'm also a guy who believes you have to take it from the champion,” said White, per Marc Raimondi at ESPN.

In the first round of the bout, Strickland was tactical in timing his jabs and turning them into combo hits. The advantage was thought to be in Stricland's favor since it was a five-round championship fight instead of three, but Du Plessis trained hard to endure a long match. Du Plessis had never fought five rounds in the UFC, so his cardio was widely questioned before the fight.

Once Du Plessis got banged up with a blistered eye, it was his turn to put a beating on Strickland. Du Plessis went right at Strickland in the third round and drew blood. Strickland was visibly exhausted in the later rounds, taking full-force hits to a cut next to his left eye, with Du Plessis bringing him down to gain ground control. It seems like there was a plan set in place to attack Strickland in certain areas, but the timing was everything for Du Plessis. Strickland made the final round a toss-up when he went at Du Plessis with sporadic hooks in the final seconds. White gave his thoughts on who he believed won, and there are a lot of voices around the fight world that believe Strickland should've had his hand raised.