Du Plessis gets UFC middleweight belt

The hostility brewing between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis finally hit its boiling point at UFC 297 on Saturday night in Toronto.

The two battled through five rounds, taking the bout to the distance, but in the end Du Plessis took Strickland’s middleweight belt after bloodying the former champ over his left eye and winning a split decision.

Judges Derek Cleary and Eric Colon scored the bout 48-47 in favor of Du Plessis, while Sal D’amato had it 48-47 for Strickland.

“This is history!” Du Plessis (21-2) screamed in honor of his homeland. “South Africa ... we can probably hear them from outside. That country is amazing.”

It was December when Du Plessis referenced Strickland’s abusive relationship with his father. Strickland let it be known that would not be tolerated, and violent recourse would result.

At UFC 296 in December, Strickland jumped over a row of seats and threw punches at Du Plessis, which both said was nowhere near a publicity stunt.

Nothing about the fight was nowhere near a stunt, as both delivered severe blows, especially in the latter rounds.

Despite the tension leading up to fight night, Du Plessis gave Strickland (286) his just due afterward.

“Every time he hits you with that jab it feels like someone hit you with a rock. You are one heck of a man, thank you for bringing out the best of me tonight,” Du Plessis said. “The first three rounds were give and take, but the last two, I was desperate rounds four and five.”

Raquel Pennington (169-0) beat Mayra Bueno

Silva (10-3-1) by unanimous decision to claim the vacant women’s bantamweight championship in the co-main event.

SKIING Shiffrin earns victory No. 95, with rival out

Mikaela Shiffrin earned her record-extending career win 95 by triumphing in a women’s World Cup slalom in Jasna, Slovakia, a day after the American star’s main rival sustained a season-ending injury.

In the first race without Olympic slalom champion Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin edged out Croatian teenager Zrinka Ljutic by 0.14 seconds.

It was Shiffrin’s fifth slalom win of the season and her 58th in total, a World Cup record for both men and women.

Shiffrin also set a record for most World Cup podiums in a single discipline with 82, having shared the previous best mark with Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, who had 81 topthree results in slalom in the 1970s and ’80s.

Vlhova crashed and tore ligaments in her right knee in Saturday’s giant slalom near her hometown in the Tatra mountains.

Shiffrin and Vlhova have been dominating women’s slalom skiing for years and combined to win 14 of the last 15 races, including all eight this season.

GOLF Mcilroy completes Dubai Desert rally

Rory Mcilroy won the Dubai Desert Classic for a record fourth time, completing a remarkable weekend comeback by reeling in Cameron Young early in the final round then holding off Adrian Meronk down the back nine to seal a one-stroke victory.

Mcilroy closed with a 2-under 70 to retain the title at a tournament he first won in 2009 and has captured more than any other in his career. Among his 38 wins as a professional, he had also won the Tour Championship and Wells Fargo Championship three times.

His latest victory at Emirates Golf Club was surely the most unlikely. Mcilroy walked to the 18th tee on Friday trailing Young by 11 shots, only to make birdie, shoot 63 on Saturday to get into the final pairing on Sunday and then wipe out the American’s overnight two-stroke lead after just six holes.

Mcilroy led by three at the turn after birdies at Nos. 8 and 9 — two of the toughest holes at Emirates Golf Club — but came under some pressure from Meronk, who made four birdies on his back nine.

The world No. 2 walked down No. 18 leading by one shot — just like at last week’s Dubai Invitational, when he was beaten by Tommy Fleetwood — but this time he didn’t lose it as he closed with a tap-in par for 14-under par overall.

Mcilroy made eight pars and a bogey on his back nine, capping what he described as a “very controlled round of golf.”

Meronk (71), recently crowned as the European tour’s player of the year for 2023, was alone in second place and Young was third after shooting 74.

• It took only four rounds for Lydia Ko to put a dismal 2023 LPGA Tour season completely behind her.

Ko rediscovered her winning touch in the seasonopening Tournament of Champions, closing with a 2-under 70 for a two-shot victory over Alexa Pano (70) at Lake Nona in Orlando, Fla.

Ko, who finished at 14-under 274, won for the 20th time on the LPGA Tour. The 26-year-old from New Zealand became the seventh woman to win 20 LPGA titles before turning 27.

“The win is obviously great,” Ko said. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to be back in the winner’s circle, and to be back to the first tournament of the season, it’s pretty cool and so much faster than I could have ever anticipated.”

Ko was winless in 20 LPGA starts a year ago, and she now can resume her quest for entry into the exclusive LPGA Hall of Fame. Ko needs 27 points to get there, and the triumph Sunday put her just one point away. Each regular LPGA win is worth one point.

Sunday’s final margin was two shots, but Ko remained in control throughout the final round, played amid unseasonably cool temperatures that dipped into the 40s. Ko, bogey-free in her second and third rounds, birdied four of her first 15 holes Sunday against a single bogey to leave her pursuers battling for second most of the day.

• Steven Alker captured the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Ka’upulehu-kona, Hawaii, on Saturday for his second straight PGA Tour Champions victory and eighth in 54 career starts.

The winner of the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in November in Phoenix, Alker won at Hualalai after finishing second the previous two years.

The New Zealander took a two-stroke lead into the final round, then closed with his second straight 9-under 63 for a four-stroke win over Harrison Frazar (65).