UFC 312 proved to be a feeding ground for some thorough beatings in Sydney, Australia. A pair of champions dished out some brutal beatings on title challengers to retain in impressive showings. Middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis turned away former titleholder Sean Strickland in emphatic fashion while women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili battered Tatiana Suarez in the co-main event.
Du Plessis handled anything Strickland threw at him and forced the American to be very tentative in coming forward. In Round 4, du Plessis broke through — literally — when he landed a strong right hand on Strickland’s nose that busted it wide open. Strickland did his best to continue through the rest of the fight, but he just could not put anything together offensively to solve the puzzle du Plessis poses.
Meanwhile, Zhang did much of the same to her latest title challenger. Zhang survived a first-round takedown from Suarez as the American was not able to do much of anything with it. From there, the champion put on a masterful striking display as…
