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UFC 312 fight grades: Did Du Plessis-Strickland 2 live up to expectations?

Dricus Du Pless beat Sean Strickland to retain the UFC middleweight title in the main event at UFC 312 on Saturday night. Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

The UFC took two title fights to the "land down under" for the promotion's second pay-per-view event of the year. Zhang Weili turned back the challenge of Tatiana Suarez to successfully defend the strawweight championship with a one-sided decision in the co-main event, while middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis extended his winning streak to nine by smashing Sean Strickland's nose on his way to a unanimous decision in the main event. Neither fight delivered much by way of drama but how did the rest of the card fare? Did it make up for its lack of star power with exciting fights?

Not really. Nine of the 12 fights went the distance.

After each pay-per-view, we break down and assess the quality of each fight and the fight card itself based on skill displayed, competitiveness and what is at stake. Andreas Hale takes a look at all 12 fights of UFC 312, including both title fights and a surprising winner for Fight of the Night.


Lightweight: Rongzhu vs. Kody Steele