The UFC is back in Sydney, with Dricus du Plessis defending his middleweight crown in a rematch against Sean Strickland while Zhang Weili looks to retain her strawweight belt and hand Tatiana Suarez her first loss in the process.
UFC 312: Du Plessis v Strickland 2 | SUN 9 FEB | UFC middleweight king Dricus du Plessis is headed back Down Under for yet another title defence, with the South African set to face Sean Strickland in a blockbuster UFC 312 headliner in Sydney. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.
Plus, eight Australians feature on the entire card with a few exciting debutants ready to leave their mark.
Follow along for the latest updates from UFC 312!
AUSSIE DEBUTANT SCORES HISTORIC KNOCKOUT
UFC commentator Jon Anik named him the Australian rookie he was most excited to see – and breakout Australian lightweight Quillan Salkilld didn’t disappoint.
Walking out for the first fight of Sydney’s UFC 312 card – draped in an Australian flag, and with Black Betty blasting – Salkilld earned in an incredible, and controversial, KO finish after just 19 seconds.
It now gives him the second fastest KO by a lightweight debutant in UFC history.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia this week, Anik described the West Australian as the fighter who had impressed him most during this week’s range of fighter meetings – and for a card topped by UFC middleweight champ Dricus du Plessis and challenger Sean Strickland.
And it took just moments for the UFC commentator to be proved right.
In the opening exchanges with Anshul Jubli, Salkilld dropped his Indian rival with a big right, prompting the referee to dive in and call it off, even though the downed fighter was not out and, in fact, was grabbing at his opponent’s leg.
Immediately afterwards, Jubli appealed with the referee for diving on top of him and calling the fight off.
However, the Indian fighter had fallen incredibly hard when dropped and there was an argument for suggesting the referee had in fact saved him from more damage in a finish only moments later.
Regardless, Salkilld is now in the UFC history books
“Perfect ending for my debut,” he said, before urging UFC boss Dana White to award him a $50,000 Performance bonus
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Salkilld is among eight Australians appearing on the card, and one of the debutants – himself, alongside Sydneysider Colby Thicknesse and Victorian Jonathan Micallef.
Earlier in the week, Anik predicted the young Aussie to star on the Qudos Bank Arena card.
“Quillan Salkilld feels like he wants to go in there and hurt a man,” the commentator said, referencing the fighter who won his way into this event via Dana White’s Contender Series.
“I like the intensity, like the focus we got from him.
“And I think he has a pretty good match up in front of him (against Anshul Jubli).
“Often times though, you don’t know how these fighters are going to respond in the big show.
“It’s great, for example, that Colby Thicknesse has been under the watchful eye of coach Joe Lopez since he was 12 years old.
“But how does his game actually translate when fighting somebody like Aleksandre Topuria in the UFC? Dealing with all the pressure, all the emotion that comes with that?
“The three UFC newcomers – Colby, Quillan and Jon — all seem even keeled, all seem to have a maturity that belies their years.
“But those lights hit bright Sunday and we’ll see who can handle it.”
‘SO MUCH MORE TO SHOW’ FOR FELLOW DEBUTANT AFTER UD WIN
Australia’s strong start to the card continued in the next, with Melbourne welterweight Jonathan Micallef also earning himself a winning UFC debut against Kevin Joussett – who has superstar gym mate Israel Adesanya cheering him.
Another product of the Dana White Contender series, Micallef dropped Jousset dropped his French rival in the first round with a head kick – which appeared to come after the Australian’s rival dropped his hands, complaining of a low blow from the previous leg strike.
The shot was among a host of devastating leg assaults the Micallef landed throughout the fight, with Jousset bruised up badly on the right side of his rib cage from the first round.
By the finish, the popular hometown fighter was awarded the fight 29-28 on all three judges’ scorecards thanks to mixing boxing with a series of devastating kicks.
Speaking afterwards, Micallef described the win as the strongest performance of his professional career and predicted more was to come.
“Guys you haven’t seen much of my game,” he stressed. “I’ve got so much more to show.
“Keep an eye on me.”
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UFC 312 FULL FIGHT CARD
Main card (from 2pm)
Dricus du Plessis (c) vs. Sean Strickland — middleweight
Zhang Weili (c) vs. Tatiana Suarez — strawweight
Justin Tafa vs. Tallison Teixeira — heavyweight
Jimmy Crute vs. Rodolfo Bellato — light heavyweight
Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado — welterweight
Preliminary card (from 12pm)
Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos — featherweight
Tom Nolan vs. Viacheslav Borshchev — lightweight
Wang Cong vs. Bruna Brasil — flyweight
Colby Thicknesse vs. Aleksandre Topuria — bantamweight
Early prelims (from 10.30am)
Kody Steele vs. Rongzhu — lightweight
Jonathan Micallef def. Kevin Jousset via unanimous decision (29-28 x3) — welterweight
Quillan Salkilld def. Anshul Jubli via first-round KO — lightweight
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