UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2 takes place this weekend in Australia, with athletes setting their alarms nice and early as they hit the scales this morning ‘down under’.
Three fights had been scrapped in the lead-up to UFC 312 – Rei Tsuruya vs Stewart Nicoll (Nicoll injury), Jimmy Crute vs Marcin Prachnio (Prachnio withdrew), and Cody Haddon vs Aleksandre Topuria (Haddon withdrew).
The bad news is that there’s one more fight to be added to that now-canceled list; the good news is that both the main and co-main events are now officially set.
UFC 312 Weigh-In Results: One fight scrapped from this weekend’s card
Fighters competing at UFC 312 hit the scales earlier this morning, with all 24 fighters successfully making their contractually agreed-upon weight.
Both UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and title challenger Sean Strickland made the championship limit of 185lbs.
The South African looked notably more ‘drained’ than Strickland, although the American could again be seen with what’s suspected to be a staph infection on his arm.
Strawweight queen Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez also successfully made weight, with ‘Magnum’ coming in at 115lbs, whilst Suarez hit the scales at 114.5lbs.
Other UFC 312 weigh-in results are as follows:
- Justin Tafa (266) vs. Tallison Teixeira (263) – Main card.
- Rodolfo Bellato (205) vs. Jimmy Crute (206)
- Jake Matthews (170.5) vs. Francisco Prado (170.5)
- Jack Jenkins (146) vs. Gabriel Santos (145.5) – Prelims.
- Viacheslav Borshchev (156) vs. Tom Nolan (155.5)
- Bruna Brasil (125.5) vs. Wang Cong (125)
- Colby Thicknesse (135.5) vs. Aleksandre Topuria (135.5)
- Kody Steele (156) vs. Rong Zhu (156) – Early prelims.
- Kevin Jousset (171) vs. Jonathan Micallef (170)
- Anshul Jubli (155.5) vs. Quillan Salkilld (156)
However, there was one discrepancy that resulted in a fight falling off the early prelims.
Just as the official UFC 312 Weigh-In show was getting underway, commentator Jon Anik confirmed that Hyun Sung Park vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel had been canceled.
According to reports, the issue was on Tumendemberel’s side and was to do with him cutting down to the flyweight limit – neither he nor Park weighed-in.
Du Plessis and Strickland trade insults at UFC 312 pre-fight press conference
The official weigh-ins arrived just 24 hours after what was a rather entertaining, if not slightly cringe, UFC 312 pre-fight press conference.
Whilst the two men involved in the main event of the evening believe that there’s mutual respect for each other’s skillset following their razor-close first fight in 2024, that didn’t stop them from trading verbal blows.
“Let me tell you something about the dutchman, which is a cool nickname by the way,” began Strickland.
“This man fights like a r—– on a short bus and hey, Dricus, I respect you for that because you fight like a f—— maniac! But, I won that fight and I’m gonna win this fight so f—— saddle up and let’s get it done!”
The South African brawler, who is known as one of the best trash-talkers in the game, responded in kind: “Yeah, I fight like somebody on the short bus, but you look like the driver… You’re not allowed near kids with that look anymore.”
A bitter rivalry. An intense rematch. It all goes down live from Australia on Saturday, February 8.