UFC 297 commentators: Former champion set to replace Joe Rogan in commentary team for upcoming PPV event

The UFC 297 commentary team will be without Joe Rogan, who is widely recognized as the de facto voice of the promotion. Instead, he will be replaced by a returning Dominick Cruz who joins Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier in the broadcast booth for the UFC's first pay-per-view of 2024.

News that Rogan won't be part of UFC 297 was broken on X/Twitter by MMA Junkie via Mike Bohn, one of their senior reporters. While a pay-per-view without Rogan present still seems strange to some, he has been progressively absent at specific UFC cards.

He rarely commentates at events hosted outside American borders. UFC 297, for example, will take place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It will be headlined by Sean Strickland defending his middleweight title against Dricus Du Plessis.

It marks the first title defense of Strickland's middleweight reign, since capturing the belt from Israel Adesanya. Meanwhile, the bout is Du Plessis' opportunity to become South Africa's first-ever UFC champion and extend his unbeaten run in the promotion to seven consecutive wins.

While the matchup is interesting from a strategic standpoint, its competitive intrigue has been largely overshadowed by the personal feud that has ignited between Strickland and du Plessis. The South African star's decision to bring up his foe's childhood trauma during a trash talking exchange sparked a rivalry that has gotten increasingly more personal.

Enraged by Du Plessis' conduct, Strickland attacked him at UFC 296, sparking a brawled until security intervened. Since then, Strickland has warned Du Plessis against bringing up his childhood abuse, even threatening to stab him.

Undeterred, Du Plessis scoffed at Strickland, asserting that he did not have the moral high ground to make such demands given his own trash-talking history.

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What is the UFC 297 co-main event?

UFC 297 will feature two title fights. While the headline bout consists of a middleweight title clash between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, its co-main event will see Mayra Bueno Silva and Raquel Pennington lock horns over the vacant women's bantamweight crown.

The matchup will be Silva's first crack at UFC gold, while it will be Pennington's second, as she last fought for the belt at UFC 224, albeit unsuccessfully.