UFC 297: Expert picks, best bets for Strickland-Du Plessis - ESPN

Sean Strickland puts the UFC middleweight championship on the line in the first pay-per-view of the year as he takes on Dricus Du Plessis in the main event at UFC 297 in Toronto on Saturday (10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV, with prelims at 8 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ and early prelims at 6:30 on ESPN+).

Strickland (28-5), ranked No. 5 in ESPN's division rankings, will have his first title defense Saturday after beating Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision at UFC 293 to claim the title. Du Plessis (20-2), ranked ahead of Strickland at No. 2, is undefeated inside the Octagon. He finished each of his past three opponents.

In the co-main event, Raquel Pennington will face Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant women's bantamweight title. Pennington (15-9), ESPN's No. 1-ranked bantamweight, enters the fight riding a five-fight win streak. Bueno Silva (10-2-1), unranked by ESPN, has submission wins over two of her past three opponents.

Marc Raimondi spoke to Fight Ready MMA coach Santino De Franco to get his perspective on the UFC main event. ESPN's betting experts Reed Kuhn and Ian Parker add their insights and analysis on the main event and other intriguing bets they like on the card.

Editor's note: Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

How Strickland wins: Strickland can't get overwhelmed or overexcited. Du Plessis has done a good job breaking everybody. He just goes in there like a wild man, and he's so chaotic that opponents match his intensity and try to beat him in the first round. But they're not used to it, and he's the one applying pressure, so they always gas themselves out.

Strickland has to kind of let Du Plessis go nuts, win a round or two — just stay calm, be safe and not take much damage. Don't try to match Du