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UFC 312: Du Plessis v Strickland 2 — Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Last night (Sat., Feb. 8, 2025), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia for UFC 312. I warned ahead of time that this card was by no means worth its $80 price tag, but there was always a chance that the fights would exceed expectations. As it turns out … not really? The undercard fights were consistently fun but there weren’t many finishes, and the main card just wasn’t that interesting until the two title fights.

All the same, let’s take a look back over at UFC 312’s best performances and techniques:

Dricus Du Plessis Ends The Rivalry

A year after his first battle versus Sean Strickland, Du Plessis made it plenty clear who evolved more in the last 12 months.

Du Plessis won nearly every minute of the fight. I can only remember one specific 90 seconds from Strickland midway through round three that actually felt like a strong sequence of Strickland moments. The reason for that bit of success? Strickland actually sat down on his counters and fired some right hand leads. Otherwise, it was the usual jab, teep, and jab again strategy that Du Plessis already handled a year ago.

It was a bit of a surprise to see Du Plessis largely move away from his wrestling. Instead, he doubled down on kicks. He kicked the crap out of Strickland’s legs and liver then battered his arms to boot. Those kicks slowed Strickland down and allowed Du Plessis to set up his hands more effectively, both in the form of marching crosses and spinning strikes.

Du Plessis was consistently a little ahead of Strickland every minute until the nose break in round four. That right hand effectively ended Strickland’s chance of winning, nearly stopping the fight outright. It left Strickland a bloody mess, which will go down as the lasting image of this rivalry.

Weili Dominates Suarez

Tatiana Suarez looked like a real challenge to Zhang Weili for roughly three minutes.

She landed an effortless clinch takedown in the opening minute, and Weili seemed stuck. She wasn’t able to generate a lot of movement from her back, though she did prevent Suarez from advancing into any particularly dominant positions. When Weili tried to scramble to her feet, Suarez jumped on a guillotine, the same one that finished Jessica Andrade.

It was really her last moment of success just about four minutes into the first. Weili popped her head free and went to work with elbows, and Suarez wouldn’t score another takedown in the remaining four rounds.

There was a whole lot of fight left, and Weili dominated almost every minute. She denied takedown after takedown, reversing them or punishing the shot with strikes more often than not. Sooner than later, Suarez was fatigued and throwing half-speed punches, whereas “Magnum” was bouncing in-and-out with huge right hands land. She even took Suarez down herself, a display of her incredible growth as a mixed martial artist.

There can be no doubt: Zhang Weili is the best female fighter in MMA right now.

An Impressive Debut

First and foremost: why was Justin Tafa on a UFC pay-per-view (PPV) main card in the year of 2025? What are we doing here? “Bad Man” is a fun fighter who can be trusted to win or lose via knockout, but he’s not particularly good. Nobody is expecting him to suddenly put it all together and make a run. He entered this bout batting .500 throughout his UFC career, and none of his current wins are on the roster.

At least Tallison Teixeira is an interesting prospect. Standing at 6’7”, he looked much larger than his opponent despite Tafa’s history as the only big man to miss weight in UFC history. Better yet, Teixeira had finished all of his previous victories via first-round stoppage … and Tafa didn’t buck that trend.

Teixeira blasted his foe with a head kick immediately then jammed Tafa into the fence with a takedown attempt. Half a moment later, he chained together a brutal knee and elbow combo that floored Tafa. In just a couple quick exchanges, the Brazilian prospect made a successful debut and statement about his overall potential.

I look forward to seeing more of the 25-year-old talent.

A Mortal Topuria

Even if they didn’t have the same last name and back tattoos, the similarities between Aleksandre Topuria and his brother Ilia would be extremely obvious.

Aleksandre has the same stance. He uses the same forward step and withdraw to bait out offense. His shot selection is identical. Even the way Aleksandre Topuria scrambled on the mat and used Greco-Roman throws in the clinch was reminiscent of the Featherweight champion. Colby Thicknesse fought with Alexander Volkanovski in his corner, and he struck rather like the former 145-pound king as well, living up to the strange mirror match up that was promised. When Aleksandre landed a beautiful overhand across the jab to floor Thicknesse, we seemed on the path to an identical result. Instead, he won a clear-cut decision.

The difference between the brothers is that Aleksandre Topuria looks like a human being. His punches are heavy, but they don’t just erase people. His transitions between phases weren’t so dynamic. Rather than press his advantage and chase the finish, he was content to ride out the win. It was a strong debut win, to be clear, and an excellent performance for his seventh professional fight.

It’s just a tall task to escape Ilia Topuria’s shadow.

Additional Thoughts

Gabriel Santos defeats Jack Jenkins via third-round rear naked choke: Santos has been a clear talent since his UFC debut, but having legitimate skill doesn’t guarantee wins. A split-decision loss to top-ranked contender Lerone Murphy and a come-from-behind KO loss proved early roadblocks to building any sort of momentum. This bout was a good display of skill that DID result in victory, early head kick knockdown aside. He even answered that knockdown with a great triangle attempt and fought his way back into the round. Round two and three, however, were characterized by his grappling dominance, as Santos countered and front kicked his way into takedown attempts then controlled a dangerous opponent. Santos has now won two straight, and perhaps he has gained some footing at 145-pounds.
Quillan Salkilld defeats Anshul Jubli via first-round knockout (highlights): Well, there’s not a lot to recap here, given the fight only lasted 16 seconds! The duo traded kicks for a moment, and the Salkilld fired the first 1-2 of the evening and floored his opponent. Jubli didn’t get much of a chance to recover before the referee stepped in, but he also went down in bad shape. Either way, it was an exciting start to the night for the Aussie fans and Salkilld’s UFC career alike!

For complete UFC 312 results and play-by-play, click here.