It’s official. The main and co-main event fighters for UFC 312 all weighed in successfully on championship weight on early Friday.
UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and challenger Sean Strickland were both 185 pounds. Their rematch will headline the show at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
UFC women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang weighed in at 115 pounds and ready to defend her title against No. 1 contender, Tatiana Suarez.
The challenger was 114.5 pounds and is finally on the cusp of capturing the strawweight title many have predicted she would win at some point in her career.
The UFC 312 card did lose a fight. Men’s flyweight Nyamjargal Tumendemberel had complications during the weight cut and he was forced out of the fight. His fight with Hyun Sun Park was subsequently canceled as the UFC did not have a replacement to face Park.
Here is a look at all of the weigh-in results as well as the updated fight card with start times for the early prelims, prelims and main card.
Main Card – 10 PM ET
- (C) Dricus du Plessis [185] vs. Sean Strickland [185] – UFC Middleweight Championship
- (C) Weili Zhang [115] vs. Tatiana Suarez [114.5] – UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
- Justin Tafa [266] vs. Talisson Teixeira [263] – Heavyweight
- Jimmy Crute [206] vs. Rodolfo Bellato [205] – Light Heavyweight
- Jake Matthews [170.5] vs. Francisco Prado [170.5] – Welterweight
Prelims – 8 PM ET
- Jack Jenkins [146] vs. Gabriel Santos [145.5] – Featherweight
- Tom Nolan [155.5] vs. Viacheslav Borschev [156] – Lightweight
- Wang Cong [125] vs. Bruna Brasil [125.5] – Women’s Flyweight
- Colby Thicknesse [135.5] vs. Aleksandre Topuria [135.5] – Men’s Bantamweight
Early Prelims – 6 PM ET
- Jonathan Micallef [170] vs. Kevin Jousset [171] – Welterweight
- Kody Steele [156] vs. Rongzhu [156] – Lightweight
- Quillan Salkilld [156] vs. Anshul Jubli [155.5] – Lightweight
- HyunSung Park vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel – Men’s Flyweight – Canceled
The UFC 312 card isn’t stacked with big names or even tons of ranked fighters. The two championship fights add legitimacy, but below the top two bouts there’s more potential and local talent than established contenders.
There are at least three high-profile prospects making their promotional debut on the show. Kody Steele, who faces Rongzhu on the early prelims, Aleksandre Topuria, the brother of UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria faces Cody Thicknesse and towering Brazilian heavyweight Talisson Texeira faces Justin Tafa on the main card.
Perhaps we will look back on this card for the ttwo title fights but also as the events that launched the careers of a trio of future stars.
Be on the lookout for post-event coverage including results, bonus winners and grades. I’ll be debuting my revamped Fight Score metric with this event.
It is designed to gauge the overall entertainment level of every fight. Stay tuned.
