The UFC goes Down Under for its next pay-per-view event. Headlined by a middleweight championship rematch and the strawweight title on the line in the co-main event, UFC 312: Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 on Saturday figures to be another display of pugilistic brilliance at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
More than a year after meeting in Toronto at UFC 297, Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland run it back with Du Plessis' middleweight title up for grabs.
In the co-main event, strawweight champion Zhang Weili defends her belt against unbeaten challenger Tatiana Suarez.
The main card will be on ESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. and simulcasts on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.
Du Plessis (22-2-0) looks to extend his overall win streak to 11 as he defends his title for the second time. The 31-year-old cemented his spot atop the middleweight division with a submission of Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August.
Meanwhile, Strickland (29-6-0) seeks retribution after losing the belt to Du Plessis in a narrow split decision at the top of 2024. The judges' scorecards read 48-47, 47-48 and 47-48 in favor of Du Plessis.
Strickland initially won the title in a win over Adesanya at UFC 293 in this very same building.
Before Du Plessis and Strickland square off, two-time titleholder Weili (25-3-0) looks to hand the 34-year-old Suarez (11-0-0) her first defeat as a pro. While Suarez has been one of the most dominant forces in women's MMA and wrestling over the past two decades, she has never competed for a UFC championship or an Olympic medal. Serious neck and knee injuries halted Suarez's previous title fights. But she's healthy and ready to capture the crown. Suarez looks to snap Weili's four-match winning streak, including two straight successful championship defenses.
What are the top storylines at UFC 312? How are experts breaking them down? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it and a collection of all of the UFC 312 essentials:
UFC 312 fight card
ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
Middleweight championship: Dricus Du Plessis (c) vs. Sean Strickland
Women's strawweight championship: Zhang Weili (c) vs. Tatiana Suarez
Heavyweight: Justin Tafa vs. Talisson Teixeira
Light heavyweight: Jimmy Crute vs. Rodolfo Bellato
Welterweight: Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado
ESPN2/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET
Featherweight: Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos
Lightweight: Tom Nolan vs. Viacheslav Borshchev
Women's flyweight: Wang Cong vs. Bruna Brasil
Bantamweight: Colby Thicknesse vs. Aleksandre Topuria
ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET
Lightweight: Rongzhu vs. Kody Steele
Welterweight: Jonathan Micallef vs. Kevin Jousset
Lightweight: Quillan Salkilld vs. Anshul Jubli
Flyweight: HyunSung Park vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel
(c) = defending champion
How to watch the fights
Watch the PPV and all other fights on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.
Purchased the fight on your phone and want to stream on your TV? Find out how here.
There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.