UFC 312: Two title fights confirmed for UFC’s return to Sydney, with Dricus du Plessis defending against Sean Strickland

UFC 312 in Sydney just got two huge title fights, which is just the third time for an Australian UFC event. Find out who is locked in for the trip Down Under.

Dricus Du Plessis scored a narrow split decision win over Sean Strickland in Toronto in January. Picture: Getty Images

UFC 312 in Sydney will be headlined by two title fights when middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis defends against No.1 contender Sean Strickland and strawweight queen Zhang Weili takes on Tatiana Suarez.

The mouth-watering rematch between South Africa’s du Plessis and former champion Strickland will take place at Qudos Bank Arena on February 9.

It will be just the third time a UFC card in Australia has hosted two title fights.

Aussie knockout artist Justin Tafa has been added to the card for a heavyweight bout against Brazil’s Tallison Teixeira.

In the middleweight title fight main event, the controversial Strickland will return to the same city in which he pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history when he outpointed Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 last year.

Strickland shocked the world when he beat Israel Adesanya in Sydney last year. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

After a heated build-up, Strickland lost the title in a razor-thin split decision loss to du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto in February before he locked in his No.1 contender status with a decision win over Paulo Costa.

Meanwhile, du Plessis submitted Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth in August in his first middleweight title defence.

Du Plessis’ win over Adesanya was the first time the middleweight title had been successfully defended since Adesanya’s remarkable run of five victorious title fights between 2020 and 2022.

Du Plessis had been hoping for a world title rematch against Australia’s Robert Whittaker in Sydney but “The Reaper’s” loss to Khamzat Chimaev in October ruined that idea.

There were also plans to have Sydneysider Alexander Volkanovski headline the card but featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will wait until later in 2025 to again step into the Octagon.

Weili Zhang (R) defends her strawweight title against Tatiana Suarez in Sydney. Picture: Paul Rutherford/Getty Images

Volkanovski was linked to a fight with rising star Diego Lopes but the Aussie’s camp only wanted the bout if it was for an interim title.

In the co-main event, China’s first UFC champion, Zhang, will defend the 115-pound title against No.1 contender Suarez.

The fight will be Zhang’s third defence in her second title run as she looks to reach Joanna Jedrzejcyk’s record of five successful defences.

Tickets for UFC 312 go on sale this week. UFC Fight Club members will get in first on Wednesday.

Presale tickets are available on Thursday and general public tickets go on sale on Friday.

UFC 312 – The card so far

Middleweight title fight – Dricus du Plessis v Sean Strickland

Strawweight title fight – Weili Zhang v Tatiana Suarez

Heavyweight – Justin Tafa v Tallison Teixeira

Light-heavyweight – Jimmy Crute v Marcin Prachnio

Lightweight – Quillan Salkilld v Anshul Jubli

Flyweight – Stewart Nicoll v Rei Tsuruya

Originally published as UFC 312: Two title fights confirmed for UFC’s return to Sydney, with Dricus du Plessis defending against Sean Strickland