DDP overwhelms Strickland for successful title defence

Dricus du Plessis remains the middleweight champion of the world after an emphatic unanimous decision triumph over Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 312 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday morning.

DDP put on five rounds of relentless striking offence, mixing up his angle and means of attack to overwhelm Sean Strickland – putting to bed any lingering doubts that the South African is anything other than the top fighter in the division.

Du Plessis came closest to finishing the challenger in the fourth round with a brutal overhand right that not only broke Strickland’s nose, but visibly displaced it. The tough-as-nails American, to his credit, reset the nose himself in the seconds after the blow, but the torrents of blood were symbolic of DDP’s dominance – and reflected in judges’ score cards of 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46 in favour of the champion.

“I told you guys, I’m trying to knock him out but it’s next to impossible,” said Du Plessis in his post fight interview.

“I gave it my all, I’m sorry I didn’t get him out of here. Sean is an absolute animal, fully deserving of all the hype.”

Du Plessis then called out light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who was in Strickland’s corner for the fight, before the challenger acknowledged that he was outfought.

“The Dutchman [Du Plessis] is a bad motherf***er, he kicked my ass fair and square,” said Strickland.

In the co-main event, Zhang Weili made a strong defence of her strawweight championship, overcoming the previously unbeaten Tatiana Suarez via unanimous decision.

The challenger had a strong first round, but the champion dominated striking, wrestling and grappling through the remaining four to make a fourth successful defence of the belt across her two reigns.

“I have the world’s best coaches. I was well prepared for this fight,” said Zhang in her post-fight interview. “Tatiana is very strong, she encountered an injury [to her knee] but she kept going.”

The rest of the main card saw Tallison Texiera make quick work of Justin Tafa in the heavyweight division with a first-round TKO; Jimmy Crute and Rodolfo Bellato fought to a majority draw in their light heavyweight bout; and Jake Matthews got the better of fellow welterweight Francisco Prado via unanimous decision.

The UFC continues with a Fight Night next Sunday, 16 February, at the Apex Facility in Las Vegas, headlined by a middleweight match between Jared Cannonier and Gregory Rodrigues.

UFC 312 – MAIN CARD RESULTS

- Main event: Middleweight championship: Dricus du Plessis def. Sean Strickland via unanimous decision (50-45 50-45 49-46), R5, 5:00

- Co-main: Women’s strawweight championship: Zhang Weili def. Tatiana Suarez (49-46 49-46 49-45), R5, 5:00

- Heavyweight: Tallison Texiera def. Justin Tafa via TKO (knees & elbows), R1, 0:35

- Light heavyweight: Jimmy Crute v Rodolfo Bellato ends in majority draw (29-27 28-28 28-28), R3, 5:00

- Welterweight: Jake Matthews def. Francisco Prado via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 30-27), R3, 5:00