3 of the wildest things said at the UFC 297 press conference (VIDEO)

  • Sean Strickland went after Colby Covington
  • The women were the hottest rivalry at the UFC 297 presser.
  • Dricus Du Plessis isn't interested in Israel Adesanya anymore.
Sean Strickland
Sean Strickland / Carmen Mandato/GettyImages
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UFC 297 takes place on Saturday, Jan. 20 live from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. Ahead of the action-packed evening, some of the fighters set to be in action got to partake in the official press conference.

The press conference was headlined by middleweight champion Sean Strickland and challenger Dricus Du Plessis. Alongside them were Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno-Silva, who will be competing for the vacant women's bantamweight title.

The press conference also featured other fighters who are set to be in action at the Scotiabank Arena. Amongst them were Neil Magny, Malott, Chris Curtis, Marc-Andre Barriault, Arnold Allen, and Movsar Evloev.

The athletes got to address viewers one last time and, as per usual, there were some wild moments in the entire press conference. At the end of it all, there are certain things that fight fans will walk into UFC 297 still talking about. Here are three of the wildest things said at the UFC 297 press conference.

Sean Strickland goes off on 'f**king fraud' Colby Covington

Strickland can always be expected to be on such lists. As a result, it comes as no shock that perhaps the wildest thing said at the press conference came from the champion.

When asked his thoughts on Colby Covington, who recently challenged for the welterweight title at UFC 296, Strickland did not hold back. The middleweight titleholder immediately answered back, "Colby Covington is a f**cking fraud," before continuing a verbal barrage on the former title challenger.

With Strickland and Covington sometimes being compared due to their similar brazen attitudes, this was Strickland's way of denouncing Covington. This will undoubtedly be the most talked about moment from this press conference.

2. Mayra Bueno-Silva taunts Raquel Pennington 'When you fight, everybody is sleeping'

Although the press conference started off in a fairly calmer manner than most might have expected, the women's bantamweight title contenders turned the notch up to 100. Despite the language barrier, Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno-Silva managed to have the most heated exchange on stage.

While Pennington initially chose to focus on her own skills and her hope to be the best version of herself in the Octagon, Silva threw a direct shot at her opponent by saying, "When you fight, everybody is sleeping."

This snowballed into a vicious back and forth between the two, as the Toronto crowd erupted with hyped up energy. The two faced off peacefully at the end of it all and it can be expected that they will settle their rivalry in the octagon but Silva definitely walked away with the most heat from that exchange.

3. Dricus Du Plessis thinks Israel Adesanya 'irrelevant'

Du Plessis had a few standout moments during the press conference, including his confirmation that he plans on moving up to the light heavyweight division after this fight. One of the wildest things said at the press conference came towards the end when former champion, Israel Adesanya, was brought up.

A reporter let both Strickland and du Plessis know that Adesanya had given his prediction on their fight, and he had Du Plessis winning via submission. Both Strickland and Du Plessis were unimpressed and unwilling to entertain even the idea of Adesanya getting a title shot against the winner of their bout.

Du Plessis simply answered, "[Israel] Adesanya is irrelevant right now," and Strickland continued those sentiments by commanding, "[Israel], shut your f**king mouth." Both statements were wild but Adesanya being called irrelevant is just on a whole other level.

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