Dricus du Plessis takes aim at Sydney fans at fiery UFC 312 weigh-in

Dricus du Plessis has taken aim at the Sydney crowd ahead of his blockbuster UFC fight against Sean Strickland, telling them “Perth is kicking your a**” at a fiery weigh-in.

Sean Strickland wore an Akubra and promised to “try and shorten this man’s life” after successfully making weight in front of a raucous crowd ahead of his UFC 312 middleweight title fight with Dricus du Plessis.

Meanwhile, for the fourth fight in succession, Du Plessis leaned into his villain status and hit out at the boos that came his way.

Six months after upsetting Israel Adesanya Perth to claim the title, South Africa’s du Plessis took aim at the Sydney crowd.

“For so many people here, Perth is kicking your ass,” he said.

“You boo like losers.

“Just like in Perth, I’m gonna take your boy out. Enjoy the jeers while you still can.”

Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland come face-to-face. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Du Plessis and Strickland both made the 185-pound title fight limit, with Strickland promising violence on Sunday.

“I can’t wait to go out there and try to shorten this man’s life for you f***ers,” he said. “To the death, Dutch man.”

Reigning strawweight champion Zhang Weili looked like she did the weight easily, tipping the scales at 115 even, compared to 114.5 for challenger Tatiana Suarez.

Weili pumped the crowd up with an “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi oi, oi” chant.

The most-hyped fight between a pair of debutants in recent UFC memory was also made official, with Colby Thicknesse and Aleksandre Topuria both making the bantamweight limit.

Thicknesse is a longtime training partner of Alex Volkanovski, and received a late-notice call-up two weeks before the fight when Cody Haddon was forced out with injury.

Topuria is the older brother of featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, who shocked Volkanovski to claim the title a year ago.

Topuria was all smiles as his team sang songs in Spanish as he hit the scales at the official weigh in earlier on Friday afternoon.