The UFC are back down under in Sydney, Australia for UFC 312 headlined with a couple of great title fights.
King of the middleweights Dricus Du Plessis returns to Australia for his second defence of his 185lbs title. Last time out in Perth he defeated long standing middleweight great and fierce rival Israel Adesanya. Now he is in Sydney to face the man whom he snatched the belt off, Sean Strickland. Since their first bout at UFC 297, both men have competed once and picked up wins in the summer of 2024. Strickland beat Paulo Costa in a close fight edging a split decision whereas the champion earned his first defence with a superb submission over former king Adesanya. For the American this looks like his last chance at reclaiming UFC gold. At 8-0 in the UFC Du Plessis will hope for a definitive win to close the Strickland chapter in his UFC Tenure.
The co-main event includes dominant female strawweight champion Weili Zhang taking on an unbeaten prodigy in Tatiana Suarez. Only two defeats in her UFC career so far Zhang has been a special addition to the strawweight division since her debut in 2018. Those defeats came at the hands of Rose Namajunas, but every other competitor has fallen short against the Chinese superstar. The two time champ is on a four fight streak and in immense form coming into this weekend. The opponent is TUF 23 winner, Californian grappling sensation Suarez, with a perfect 10-0 record she aims to scalp one of the divisions greatest champions. The record of Suarez is not the only impressive quality of the 34 year old. She has survived a battle with thyroid cancer and multiple career threatening injuries causing long stretches of inactivity in her career.
Ones To Watch
The card is sprinkled with promising prospects and will show off the wealth of Australian talent for all to see in the Qudos Bank Arena. On the main card is an unbeaten Brazilian brute with a 100% finish rate making his UFC debut against a Samoan banger everyone loves. At 6ft 7 Tallison Teixeira is huge even for heavyweight, an awesome DWCS performance earned him a UFC contract and it will be the biggest stage possible for his first UFC walk. His opponent Justin Tafa is brawler with heavy hands and fans will always tune in when the Samoans take centre stage, particularly with all Tafa’s wins coming by KO.
Elite featherweights Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria will rekindle their rivalry on the prelims from the corner positions. Aleksandre Topuria is the older brother of the current 145lbs king and makes his long awaited UFC debut in Sydney. In true Volkanovski fashion he appears in the opposing corner on short notice as one of his main training partners and proteges Colby Thicknesse gets the call to step up on debut and take on the intimidating Georgian. However, Thicknesse himself boasts an impressive 7-0 record with three consecutive first round finishes coming into this fight. It is one of the most anticipated debutant vs debutant fights in recent memory. Kicking off the card is an all rounded lightweight prospect in Quillan Salkilld ready to make a statement on debut. Seven straight wins with a mix of submissions and knockouts has got him into the leading MMA organisation.
UFC 312 Results and Highlights
Main Card
Middleweight Championship – Dricus Du Plessis vs Sean Strickland
Result: du Plessis def. Strickland via Unanimous Decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)
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Women’s Strawweight Championship – Weili Zhang vs Tatiana Suarez
Result: Zhang def. Suarez via Unanimous Decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45)
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Heavyweight – Tallison Teixeira vs Justin Tafa
Result: Teixeira def. Tafa (elbow and punches) Round 1 0:35
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Light Heavyweight – Jimmy Crute vs Rodolfo Bellato
Result: Crute vs. Bellato ends in Majority Draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
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Welterweight – Jake Matthews vs Francisco Prado
Result: Matthews def. Prado via Unanimous Decision (30-27×3)
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Prelims
Featherweight – Jack Jenkins vs Gabriel Santos
Result: Santos def. Jenkins via Submission (rear-naked choke) Round 3 2:06
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Lightweight – Tom Nolan vs Viacheslav Borshchev
Result: Nolan def. Borshchev via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
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Women’s Flyweight – Cong Wang vs Bruna Brasil
Result: Wang def. Brasil via Unanimous Decision (30-27×3)
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Bantamweight – Aleksandre Topuria vs Colby Thicknesse
Result: Topuria def. Thicknesse via Unanimous Decision (30-27×3)
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Early Prelims
Lightweight – Kody Steele vs Rongzhu
Result: Rongzhu def. Steele via Unanimous Decision (30-27×3)
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Welterweight – Jonathan Micallef vs Kevin Jousset
Result: Micallef def. Jousset via Unanimous Decision (29-28×3)
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Lightweight – Quillan Salkilld vs Anshul Jubli
Result: Salkilld def. Jubli via KO (straight right) Round 1 0:19
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