UFC 312 winners: Du Plessis defends his title, Weili retains, Tafa falls, and thrilling finishes dominate the night!
When the UFC heads Down Under, something special always seems to happen. Australia has hosted some incredible moments in UFC history. Last night at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, the tradition continued with UFC 312 delivering another memorable night of fights capped by two championship bouts.
In a masterful display of striking, Dricus Du Plessis retained his middleweight crown against Sean Strickland. The South African champion controlled the action early, but the fight’s turning point came in the fourth round when he shattered Strickland’s nose with a clean right hand.
Feels good to be a champion 🏆#UFC312 | #AndStill pic.twitter.com/42Oc9pled3
— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2025
The challenger’s face became a crimson mask, his mustache soaked in blood and Du Plessis cruised to a unanimous decision win (50-45, 50-45, 49-46). This fight cemented Du Plessis’ place in the middleweight elite and silenced any rumors about their first fight.
Also Read: UFC Middleweight Rankings After UFC 312
After a challenging first round where she found herself on her back, Zhang Weili showed why she is considered one of the most complete champions in UFC history. The Chinese star dominated Tatiana Suarez for the next four rounds, mixing striking with her own wrestling to hand Suarez her first professional loss.
With her win at #UFC312, Zhang Weili ties Joanna Jedrzejczyk for most title fight wins in UFC strawweight history with six 👏 pic.twitter.com/wZTlOuWWr2
— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2025
The judges scored it 49-46, 49-46, 49-45 for Weili, who has now defended her belt three times in this reign. Being fair to Suarez, a cut on her knee in the second round slowed her down. Her wrestling became labored and Weili could see those takedowns coming from a mile away.
Read More: Did Tatiana Suarez’s Knee Injury Cost Her The Match?
The main card kicked off with hometown hero Jake Matthews outpointing Francisco Prado in a welterweight bout. Next up, Jimmy Crute and Rodolfo Bellato put on a light heavyweight slugfest that had even the judges confused. The fight finally ended in a majority draw.
TALLISON TEIXEIRA FOLDS JUSTIN TAFA IN 35 SECONDS‼️💥 pic.twitter.com/56JUl8LkDN
— Scott (@CombatPandaMMA) February 9, 2025
In heavyweight action, newcomer Tallison Teixeira made quite the entrance. He stopped the veteran Justin Tafa with vicious elbows just 35 seconds into the first round. Doing this to a veteran in his first fight in the UFC has rung alarm bells in the heads of the other heavyweight contenders.
The prelims saw Gabriel Santos submit Jack Jenkins with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their featherweight fight. Tom Nolan edged out Viacheslav Borshchev in a competitive decision. ‘The Joker’ Wang Cong continued her rise with a dominant win over Bruna Brasil via decision. The highly anticipated debut of Aleksandre Topuria, Ilia Topuria’s brother went as they had hoped. He dominated and outpointed Colby Thicknesse to get the win in his debut.
What a BATTLE ⚔️
— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2025
Rongzhu and Kody Steele put on a show! #UFC312 pic.twitter.com/AZziy5rIlZ
These debutantes wasted NO time 😤
— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2025
Tallison Teixeira & Quillan Salkilld are taking home the #UFC312 POTN honors!
[ B2YB @PrimeHydrate ] pic.twitter.com/M6MVtMj8XH
Opening the night, the Australian Quilland Salkilld needed just 19 seconds to knock out Anshul Jubli. This was the fastest finish of the evening. Jonathan Micallef got the decision victory against Kevin Jousset and so did Zhu Rong against Kody Steele. These early prelim fighters might not be household names yet, but they sure fought like they wanted to be!
Quilland Salkilld and Tallison Texeira got the bonus for the Performance of the Night. Zhu Rong vs. Kody Steele got the Fight Of The Night Bonus. All these fighters got the $50K bonus.
(Image Credit: @UFCNews – X)
mma I am a dedicated MMA and Boxing content writer at The Playoffs. I was instantly hooked on MMA after watching the fight between Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi back in 2014, and since then, i have been an avid writer with a deep love for the sport and its techniques, providing readers with a thorough understanding of the sport. My favorite aspect of working at The Playoffs is the creative freedom it provides. The diverse range of topics, from listicles and SEO to news articles, keeps me engaged and motivates me to continuously improve my skills! I aim to capture the excitement of the combat sports world in my writing, acting as the middleman between fighters and their die-hard fans. It is kind of like a referee, but with words!
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