Du Plessis edged a super-close first meeting, with the South African earning a split-decision victory over Strickland to dethrone the American in their first meeting at UFC 297.
And in the rematch, Du Plessis pushed the pace for the full five-round duration, and broke the nose of the former champion, as he claimed scores of 50-45, 50-45, 49-46 to retain his title via a landslide unanimous decision.
After his victory, Du Plessis asked, “is there nobody left?” while staring down light heavyweight champion – and former middleweight champ – Alex Pereira.
But his likely next opponent won’t be Pereira. It’s much more likely to be Khamzat Chimaev, who crushed former champion Robert Whittaker in their meeting last year to put himself at the front of the middleweight queue.
Zhang too good for Suarez, retains strawweight title
In the co-main event, defending women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili showcased her full MMA arsenal to dominate undefeated Tatiana Suarez en route to a unanimous decision victory.
Suarez landed a takedown in Round 1, but was unable to do too much with it, and Zhang dominated from that point on, as she comprehensively outstruck Suarez on the feet, and, to the surprise of plenty, outwrestled and outgrappled Suarez on the mat.
With Suarez’s wrestling rendered a non-factor, the fight became a relatively straightforward one for Zhang, who dominated the remainder of the fight to claim scores of 49-46, 49-46, 49-45 and successfully defend her 115-pound title for the third straight time.
UFC 312: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Dricus Du Plessis def. Sean Strickland via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46) – for middleweight title
- Zhang Weili def. Tatiana Suarez via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45) – for women’s strawweight title
- Tallison Teixeira def. Justin Tafa via TKO (knee and elbows) – Round 1, 0:35
- Jimmy Crute vs Rodolfo Bellato via majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
- Jake Matthews vs Francisco Prado via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Gabriel Santos def. Jack Jenkins via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:06
- Tom Nolan def. Viacheslav Borshchev via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Wang Cong def. Bruna Brasil via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Aleksandre Topuria def. Colby Thicknesse via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
EARLY PRELIMS
- Rongzhu def. Kody Steele via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Jonathan Micallef def. Kevin Jousset via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Quillan Salkilld def. Anshul Jubli via TKO (punch) – Round 1, 0:19
