Two former fighters will be on the call for the UFC’s return to Sydney, Australia on February 8.
The second PPV card of 2025 from the MMA leader is nearly upon us with UFC 312 going down at the Qudos Bank Arena this Saturday – but Joe Rogan will not be making the trip over.
In the main event, Dricus Du Plessis will look to defend his middleweight title in a rematch with Sean Strickland following their closely contested bout at UFC 297 which went the way of the South African.
Two title fights top the bill with a highly anticipated strawweight clash between Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez receiving co-main event billing.
All of the action down under will not feature the iconic voice of the long-time commentator who no longer features on international events.
Michael Bisping replaces Joe Rogan on UFC 312 broadcast
In Joe Rogan’s place, a former UFC champion will step into the broadcast booth to call the action alongside the regular PPV team at UFC 312.
Michael Bisping will join play-by-play lead Jon Anik and his fellow UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier on the first PPV assignment of the year for ‘The Count’.
As the former middleweight titleholder from 2016-2017, in which he successfully defended the title against Dan Henderson, Bisping is sure to have a keen interest in the 185-pound title fight that headlines the card.
The 29-fight UFC veteran was recently named the analyst of the year at the 16th Annual World MMA Awards in Las Vegas.
UFC officials confirmed the news to MMA Fighting during fight week.
Dricus Du Plessis tells Michael Bisping why UFC 312 rematch feels different
Ahead of UFC 312 this weekend, Michael Bisping interviewed the defending middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis.
The South African titleholder spoke about how approaching this contest feels different from their previous meeting at UFC 297 where ‘Stillknocks’ won the title following a tense build-up.
He believes that this is no longer the case between him and Strickland now that they have shed blood with one another inside the Octagon.
“I think there’s a different level of respect this time round and I think the respect we have for each other this time around is different to the first fight,” du Plessis said.
“We respect anybody that gets into that Octagon because it takes a lot but after sharing it for 25 minutes in an absolute war like we did, both of us, he actually said it too and he said, ‘Listen, we train our whole lives to go out there and go to war. Nobody’s giving up. nobody’s soft and nobody’s just crumbling if you make it to that level, that’s not how it works’.
“So this week has been very similar but different like every fight week.”