Two Title Fights Are Headed ‘Down Under’

Two Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title fights are headed “down under.”

During the UFC 310 broadcast last night, the promotion announced that Dricus Du Plessis will defend his Middleweight championship against Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 312 on Sat., Feb. 8, 2024. In the co-main event, Zhang Weili will defend her Strawweight title against Tatiana Suarez inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Du Plessis, 30, is coming off a submission win over Israel Adesanya (watch highlights), while Strickland, 33, is coming off a lackluster victory over Paulo Costa.

By the time Du Plessis and Strickland enter the Octagon in Feb., it will be one year and 19 days since the two Middleweights fought for the first time, in which “Stillknocks” took the championship off Strickland via a controversial split decision.

Both Middleweights have had success “down under,” with “Tarzan” winning the Middleweight championship the last time the promotion went to Syndey at UFC 293 and Du Plessis scoring his first title defense across the country in Peth, Australia.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

After multiple ups and downs throughout her UFC career, Suarez will finally fight for a championship. The 33-year-old did not fight in 2024 because of two canceled fights but is riding a 10-fight win streak and holds a perfect 10-0 record.

Zhang has not fought since competing on the historic UFC 300 card earlier this year. The Chinese champion is riding a four-fight win streak with wins over Yan Xiaonan, Amanda Lemos, Carla Esparza, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

With the main and co-main events now official, here are the other fights on UFC 312.

Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland
Zhang Weili vs. Tatiana Suarez
Jimmy Crute vs. Marcin Prachnio
Anshul Jubli vs. Quillan Salkilld
Stewart Nicoll vs. Rei Tsuruya

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