Kody Steele Vs. Rongzhu Added To UFC 312

One of the best prospects to come off Contender Series last year is doing “Down Under.”

Multiple sources confirmed to MMAmania.com today (Weds., Jan. 8, 2024) that top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight prospect Kody Steele will make his UFC debut against Rongzhu at UFC 312 on Feb. 8, 2025, which will go down inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Steele (7-0) is coming off a second-round body shot knockout win that earned him a UFC contract on season eight of Contender Series (watch highlights), but he had to go through some drama to get his coveted contract. He originally was matched up against Quemuel Ottoni in week five, but the fight was scrapped after Ottoni suffered a panic attack, which canceled the fight.

Nevertheless, Steele is a high-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who competed full-time in grappling matches before transitioning to mixed martial arts (MMA).

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Rongzhu (25-6) is coming off one of the most brutal injuries in 2025. In his last UFC return after being released in 2022, the Chinese fighter was sent directly to the hospital after Chris Padilla broke Rongzhu’s face with a devastating elbow at UFC Vegas 97.

Rongzhu will be looking to rebound and get back into the win column to avoid getting released a second and potentially last time.

With the addition of Steele vs. Rongzhu, here is the UFC 312 card.

Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland 2

Zhang Weili vs. Tatiana Suarez

Cody Haddon vs. Aleksandre Topuria

Jimmy Crute vs. Rodolfo Bellato

Anshul Jubli vs. Quillan Salkilld

Stewart Nicoll vs. Rei Tsuruya

Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Tom Nolan

Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos

Justin Tafa vs. Tallison Teixeira

Wang Cong vs. Bruna Brasi

Kody Steele vs. Rongzhu

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