UFC 312 was a shutout, with Dricus Du Plessis beating Sean Strickland pillar to post for a unanimous decision victory.
Du Plessis has now built himself a solid middleweight resume, with wins over three former champions in Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, and Sean Strickland (twice). However, his rematch with Strickland was expected to be a close fight, with their main event result at UFC 297 being highly contentious.
Despite this, Du Plessis came prepared, snubbing Strickland’s jab, outpacing him, and breaking his nose. In a gnarly highlight, Strickland reset his nose mid-fight.
The UFC’s official scorecards for the fight tell a straightforward story.
- READ MORE: Dricus Du Plessis reveals what he told Sean Strickland backstage following UFC 312 title fight
Sean Strickland only won one round on three judges’ scorecards against Dricus Du Plessis
The official UFC 312 scorecards for Du Plessis vs. Strickland show a unanimous score for the South African. Strickland wasn’t remotely close to stealing the contest, only being granted one round on all three scorecards: the second round, in the opinion of Ben Cartlidge.
It shows the lack of adjustment on Strickland’s part since he stuck to the same gameplan as the first fight in 2024. Strickland’s alleged staph infection could also be the cause, but ‘Tarzan’ didn’t make that excuse after the fight.
Fan scorecards for Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis are even more damning
100 percent of media members scored the fight for Du Plessis. 20 of 26 members had Du Plessis winning all five rounds, per MMA Decisions. 98 fan scorecards were submitted to the website, and just over five percent of users scored the fight for Strickland, with an overwhelming 92 giving the fight to ‘DDP.’
Du Plessis has agreed to fight Alex Pereira sometime in the future but would first like to remove Khamzat Chimaev from the undefeated ranks.