How to watch or stream UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis - ESPN

Sean Strickland will defend his middleweight championship against Dricus Du Plessis in the main event of two-title-fight UFC 297 on Saturday in Toronto.

The co-main event at Scotiabank Arena is a fight for the vacant women's bantamweight title, with Raquel Pennington taking on Mayra Bueno Silva.

The main card will be onESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. and early prelims on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m.

Strickland (28-5) will be making the first defense of the 185-pound title he took from Israel Adesanya in September. It was the third straight win for Strickland, who is No. 5 in the ESPN divisional rankings.

The second-ranked Du Plessis (20-2) has won eight fights in a row, most recently a second-round TKO of former champ Robert Whittaker in July.

Pennington (15-8), who made an unsuccessful challenge for the 135-pound title in 2018, earned this title bid with a split-decision win over Ketlen Vieira last January, her fifth win in a row. She is No. 1 in the ESPN women's bantamweight rankings.

Bueno Silva (10-2-1, 1 NC), who is unranked because she is coming off a suspension for using a banned substance, is unbeaten in her last four fights.

What are the storylines behind the top fights at UFC 297? How are experts breaking them down? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it and a collection of all of the UFC 297 essentials.

ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
Middleweight championship: Sean Strickland © vs. Dricus Du Plessis
Women's bantamweight championship: Raquel Pennington vs. Mayra Bueno Silva
Welterweight: Neil Magny vs. Mike Malott
Middleweight: Chris Curtis vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
Men's featherweight: Arnold Allen vs. Movsar Evloev
ESPN+, 8 p.m.
Men's bantamweight: Brad