| UFC 312: du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 312: du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | February 9, 2025 (2025-02-09) | |||
| Venue | Qudos Bank Arena | |||
| City | Sydney, Australia | |||
| Attendance | 18,537[1] | |||
| Total gate | $7,687,317[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 312: du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on February 9, 2025, at theQudos Bank Arena inSydney, Australia.[2][3]
The event marked the promotion's seventh visit to Sydney and first sinceUFC 293 in September 2023.[3]
AUFC Middleweight Championship rematch between current championDricus du Plessis (also formerKSW Welterweight Champion) and former championSean Strickland headlined the event.[4] The pairing previously met one year prior atUFC 297 in which du Plessis captured the title by split decision.[5]
AUFC Women's Strawweight Championship bout between current two-time championZhang Weili andThe Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia strawweight winnerTatiana Suarez served as the co-main event.[4]
A light heavyweight bout betweenJimmy Crute andMarcin Prachnio was scheduled for this event.[6] However, Prachnio withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons and was replaced by formerLFA Light Heavyweight Champion Rodolfo Bellato.[7]
Road to UFC Season 2 flyweight winner Rei Tsuruya and Stewart Nicoll were scheduled to meet in a flyweight bout.[6] However, Nicoll was forced to withdraw due to an injury and the bout was cancelled.[8]
A bantamweight bout between promotional newcomer Aleksandre Topuria and Cody Haddon was scheduled for this event.[9] However, Haddon withdrew from the fight due to a foot injury and was replaced by fellow newcomer Colby Thicknesse.[10]
A flyweight bout betweenRoad to UFC Season 1 flyweight winnerPark Hyun-sung and Nyamjargal Tumendemberel was scheduled for the event.[11] However, the bout was canceled due to a weight management issue with Nyamjargal.[12]
During the event's broadcast, it was announced that the interimUFC Middleweight Championship bout that took place in April 2019 atUFC 236 betweenIsrael Adesanya (who would go on to become a two-time middleweight champion) andThe Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winnerKelvin Gastelum would be the next "fight wing"UFC Hall of Fame inductee during International Fight Week festivities in Las Vegas this summer. Adesanya won the interim title via unanimous decision after a back-and-forth contest.[13]
| Main card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Dricus du Plessis (c) | def. | Sean Strickland | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Women's Strawweight | Zhang Weili (c) | def. | Tatiana Suarez | Decision (unanimous) (49–46, 49–46, 49–45) | 5 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Heavyweight | Tallison Teixeira | def. | Justin Tafa | TKO (knee to the body and elbows) | 1 | 0:35 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Jimmy Crute | vs. | Rodolfo Bellato | Draw (majority) (29–27, 28–28, 28–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Jake Matthews | def. | Francisco Prado | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN2 / Disney+ / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Gabriel Santos | def. | Jack Jenkins | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 2:06 | |
| Lightweight | Tom Nolan | def. | Viacheslav Borshchev | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Wang Cong | def. | Bruna Brasil | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Aleksandre Topuria | def. | Colby Thicknesse | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Early Preliminary card (Disney+ / ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Rong Zhu | def. | Kody Steele | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Jonathan Micallef | def. | Kevin Jousset | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Quillan Salkilld | def. | Anshul Jubli | TKO (punch) | 1 | 0:19 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[15]
