Du Plessis And Strickland Make Weight – Who Comes Out Victorious?
Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland weighed in for their UFC 312 fight in Australia on Saturday, as they both made the middleweight limit.
Du Plessis puts his UFC Middleweight Title on the line for the second defense of his belt. The South African secured the belt from Strickland at UFC 297 in a controversial split decision win. He defended it successfully by beating Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in his last fight. He submitted Adesanya in a shock fourth-round submission win. There is plenty on the line, with the winner potentially facing Khamzat Chimaev. The Russian has sparred Strickland before, with suggestions that he got the better of Sean.
Strickland arrives into the fight full of confidence. His win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302, put the Du Plessis win behind him. Sean has hit out at Chimaev, setting the narrative for a fight if he can get past Du Plessis. Du Plessis has said that the fight will not go the distance. Meanwhile, Strickland has demanded that they slug it out in the center. They eventually made their way to the scales. Du Plessis and Strickland hit the scales at 185 pounds each.
Du Plessis Vs. Strickland
Pre-Fight Talk
“Let me tell you something about the dutchman, which is a cool nickname by the way, this man fights like a man on a short bus and hey, Dricus, I respect you for that because you fight like a maniac! But, I won that fight and I’m gonna win this fight so saddle up and let’s get it done,” Strickland said
“If somebody disrespects you, you put them in their place and he’s willing to do that so that’s what a man does,” Du Plessis
Chief Support
In the co-main event, Weili Zhang defends her strawweight title against Tatiana Suarez. Zhang makes the third defense of the belt, which she acquired against Carla Esparza at UFC 281. She enters into the bout with victories over Amanda Lemos and Yan Xiaonan. She is considered a massive favorite, given Saurez’s recent form. While the latter is undefeated, Saurez’s inactivity could be her downfall. Three fight since 2019 will not help her cause. Her last fight was a win against Jessica Andrade. Zhang made the weight at 115 pounds, while Saurez weighed slightly lighter at 114.5 pounds.
Pre-Fight Talk
“I believe this will be a great fight for the audience. A lot of people may think it’s a fight between striking and wrestling, but I don’t think so,” Zhang said
“Now is my time.’ I’m the No. 1 ranked strawweight in the world, so why wouldn’t they put me against the champion? Not only that, I’m undefeated. I just feel like it makes for a good matchup and [Zhang] has already beat the other two girls below me [in the rankings],” Suarez stated
Main card
Dricus Du Plessis (22-2-0) vs. Sean Strickland (29-6-0)
Zhang Weili (25-3-0) vs. #1 Tatiana Suarez (11-0-0)
Justin Tafa (7-4-0) vs. Austen Lane (12-3-0)
Jim Crute (12-4-1) vs. Rodolfo Bellato (12-2-0)
Jake Matthews (20-7-0) vs. Francisco Prado (12-2-0)
Prelims
Jack Jenkins (13-3-0) vs. Gabriel Santos (11-2-0)
Tom Nolan (8-1-0) vs. Viacheslav Borshchev (8-4-1)
Wang Cong (6-1-0) vs. Bruna Brasil (10-4-1)
Colby Thicknesse (0-0-0) vs. Aleksandre Topuria (0-0-0)
Early Prelims
Jonathan Micallef (1-0-0) vs. Kevin Jousset (10-3-0)
Quillan Salkilld (1-0-0) vs. Anshul Jubli (7-1-0)
HyunSung Park (9-0-0) vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel (8-1-0)
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