For the seventh time overall and first since 2023, the UFC will return to Australia’s largest city when UFC 312 arrives on Saturday inside Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena.
A pair of title fights top the marquee as Dricus du Plessis aims for the second defense of his UFC middleweight title when he rematches Sean Strickland in the main event. Women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili returns in the co-headliner against unbeaten challenger Tatiana Suarez.
As we draw closer to this pay-per-view event from down under, let’s take a closer look at the biggest storylines.
1. Sean Strickland adds championship addition to his corner
In what first sounded more like a publicity stunt considering their history is now being looked at as a fairly strategic play. Strickland, who lost his 185-pound title to du Plessis by the slimmest of margins in early 2024, has added former middleweight king and current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira to his team for UFC 312. Pereira, who viciously knocked out Strickland in the first round of their 2022 bout, will join Eric Nicksick and Danny Davis in Strickland’s corner after his schedule just happened to match up with him being in Australia this weekend. Strickland and Pereira had become occasional training partners in the years that followed their fight at UFC 276 and, from a strategic standpoint, it makes a lot of sense (even with the language barrier between them). For as good as Strickland is as a volume striker who smothers his opponents with constant pressure, it was his lack of firm takedown defense and inability to land damaging blows that likely proved to be the difference in his split-decision loss to du Plessis. Now, Strickland returns to the same arena where he once captured UFC gold in 2023 when he outpointed Israel Adesanya (one fight after Adesanya knocked out Pereira in their title rematch). Only, this time, he will have the sport’s most intimidating finisher helping to warm him up in the locker room and providing “Chama” between rounds.
2. For a fighter whose technique is so criticized, all DDP does is win
When du Plessis, a native of South Africa, first made his UFC debut in 2020, the lumbering and muscular 6-footer looked anything but the pound-for-pound respected fighter he is today. But even with his current eight-fight unbeaten streak in the Octagon and victories over a trio of former champions in Robert Whittaker, Strickland and Adesanya, the often unorthodox ways of the “bull in a china shop” du Plessis continues to be an anomaly on the elite level. Even Whittaker and Adesanya, former rivals turned respectful training partners, got together for a recent podcast appearance in which the two ex-champions openly clowned DDP’s skills before reluctantly giving him his flowers by declaring him “the best shit fighter in the world.” It was a comment that was as disrespectful as it was endearing, and it accurately sums up how most of DDP’s contemporaries look at his game. Du Plessis, for the record, wasn’t offended by the remarks when asked about it on Australian television this week. Even the champion realizes that his size, power and unique blend of skills — mixed with his raw tendencies — have become a difficult code for any UFC fighter to crack, even though Strickland has come the closest to date.
3. It’s now or never for Tatiana Suarez
It has been 18 months since Suarez, the 34-year-old who won season 23 of “The Ultimate Fighter in 2016, has last been healthy enough to fight for the UFC. And before 2023, Suarez missed nearly four full years battling a myriad of injuries that, unfortunately, saw her legacy begin to get compared with that of the often-injured Dominick Cruz. The main difference between them as of now is that Cruz, despite his own heartbreaking history of staying healthy, has twice captured UFC gold at 135 pounds. The 10-0 Suarez will finally get her first shot at a UFC title this weekend against Zhang in what, should history be any indication, could be her one and only shot at maximizing her true potential and adding her name to UFC history. Ever since Suarez first debuted in the UFC some nine years ago, she looked like a future champion. None of that has changed upon her multiple returns, including her last walk to the Octagon in 2023, when she subbed out former champion Jessica Andrade in less than two rounds. Suarez might have the most dominant wrestling skills in all of women’s MMA and still holds the record for highest top position percentage in UFC strawweight history. Even with her decorated history of injuries, she remains a slight betting favorite to beat Zhang given her size and aggressiveness. All Suarez needs is to find the one thing that has eluded her as a professional: consistency. The only constant Suarez has known is frustration. But make no mistake, a Suarez win at UFC 312 would be a compelling example of true perseverance looks like at the the highest level.
4. The more active Zhang Weili will be, the quicker strawweight can reload
Ever since her UFC debut in 2018, Zhang has been a dominant 8-0 against everyone in the Octagon not named Rose Namajunas (whom she lost to twice in 2021). The two-time strawweight champion, who is also the first Chinese-born titleholder in UFC history, remains one of the pound-for-pound best female fighters in the sport at age 35. But Zhang has been anything but active of late, having fought just twice in the past 27 months. Zhang’s inactivity has also coincided with an extreme fall for the division which, ever since it debuted in 2014, has consistently been the deepest of the four female weight divisions previously promoted by the UFC. Whether or not she retains her title against Suarez at UFC 312, Zhang remains one of the sport’s most important stars, not to mention the 115-pound division. And she’ll need to stay healthy and active for strawweight to continue its reshuffling of the deck after Namajunas moved to flyweight, Joanna Jedrzejczyk retired and Mackenzie Dern continues to battle inconsistency.
5. Will it be a new beginning or the beginning of the end for Wang Cong?
A 32-year-old native of China, Cong made her UFC debut in 2024 following a credentialed kickboxing career which saw her once score a victory over future UFC champion Valentina Shevchenko back in 2015. Cong, who competes in the same 125-pound division where Shevchenko currently reigns for the second time, was looking to use her history with the champion to climb the rankings at a similar speed to that of Pereira given his own kickboxing history with Adesanya. Cong, who made quick work of her “Road to UFC” tryout opponent last May, finished off Victoria Leonard in her UFC debut even quicker in August when she scored a first-round knockout. But even with her overflowing confidence and charisma, which includes Cong dressing up as “The Joker” during weigh-ins to try and intimidate her opponents, the bottom quickly fell out in November. Cong, a huge favorite against UFC newcomer Gabriella Fernandes, was submitted with relative ease in Round 2. Now, the question becomes whether Cong can pick up the pieces in Saturday’s matchup against Bruna Brasil, who is 2-2 inside the Octagon but owns victories over Shauna Bannon and Molly McCann. A loss of any kind would take all of the remaining air out of Cong’s balloon.
Read the full article here
