UFC kicked off January of 2025 with UFC 311 on January 18th. The original headliner was Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan 2, but it fell through last minute as Arman injured his back. Instead, Renato Moicano, who was set to face Beneil Dariush at UFC 311 stepped in for Arman and faced off against Islam Makhachev. In the co-main Bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili went toe-to-toe with Umar Nurmagomedov, cousin of former Lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov.

UFC 311 Main Card Results

Lightweight Title bout, (c.) Islam Makhachev vs. (10.) Renato Moicano: (c.) Makhachev def. (10.) Moicano via Submission in Round 1

Bantamweight Title bout, (c.) Merab Dvalishvili vs. (3.) Umar Nurmagomedov: (c.) Dvalishvili def. (2.) Nurmagomedov via Unanimous Decision

Light Heavyweight bout, (2.) Jiří Procházka vs. (4.) Jamahal Hill: (2.) Procházka def. (4.) Hill via TKO in Round 3

Heavyweight bout, (6.) Jailton Almedia vs. (7.) Serghei Spivac: (6.) Almedia def. (7.) Spivac via TKO in Round 1

Middleweight bout, Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder: de Ridder def. Holland via Submission in Round 1

UFC 312 Main Event Breakdown

For those who don’t know, UFC 312 will be headlined by current Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis against the man he took the title from, former UFC Middleweight champ Sean Strickland. Their first meeting at UFC 297 in the beginning of 2024 was a great fight that showed just how elite both of those fighters are. Now, both have fought since their first meeting, and both have had time to find out the other’s possible game plan and tendencies. First, let’s look at the first fight.

Dricus Du Plessis beat the then Middleweight champ Sean Strickland by split decision. These are the stats for the bout:

Sean Strickland: 183/419 Total Strikes, 173/408 Significant Strikes, 0 attempted takedowns, 0 knockdowns, 0 attempted submissions

Dricus Du Plessis: 140/358 Total Strikes, 137/354 Significant Strikes, 6/11 attempted takedowns, 0 knockdowns, 0 attempted submissions

Scorecards: 48-47 Strickland, 48-47 Du Plessis, 48-47 Du Plessis

In this bout what really allowed Du Plessis to pull out the win was the cut and takedowns. Other than that Strickland was just barely beating Du Plessis on the feet.

Now let’s check out the matches both men had in between their UFC 297 meeting and upcoming UFC 312 meeting.

Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya

At UFC 305 former UFC Middleweight champ Israel Adesanya and one of the Middleweight greats, challenged for Dricus Du Plessis for the Middleweight title. The two had a rivalry brewing for a while that started when Dricus viciously KO’d former UFC Middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, in which he said after the fight that he aims to be the first “real” African UFC champ. For those who don’t know, Israel Adesanya is Nigerian-New Zealand, and he took offense to this and stormed into the cage to face off with Dricus where they exchanged words. Then in the build up to UFC 305 Dricus and Israel got even more heated, with Israel bursting into tears at the press conference from something Dricus had said. So when they finally met in the cage, the two went tit for tat, with Dricus and Israel both having judges mixed on who won what rounds. That is until the 4th round, where Dricus rocked Israel, and then chased him down against the cage, pouring on right hands and dragged him down where he got Israel’s back and sunk in a Rear Naked Choke that Israel tapped to.

Now, Let’s see Sean Strickland’s latest win after UFC 297.

Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa

At UFC 302 Sean Strickland faced former UFC Middleweight title contender Paulo Costa in a 5 round bout that co-mained UFC 302. The fight was a technical striking display with Sean outlanding Paulo every round and controlling the pace for the majority, and in the 5th round, Strickland caught Paulo circling to his right against the cage, and threw a right roundhouse kick to the head, knocking down Paulo in the final seconds of the fight, and continued the pressure until the end. Strickland won by Split Decision, with many believing that the fight should’ve actually been a Unanimous decision for Strickland, instead of a split decision.

So, how does the second encounter go down?

To start off, it’s hard to say, but I feel I’ve got a good idea of how the fight will go down. On the feet, Sean will find success with his jab and teep, but once Dricus starts mixing in his grappling, he can start to establish a lead in the fight by keeping Sean guessing. I see this fight going to at least the third round, but in the end I think Dricus wins by mid to late stoppage, or a unanimous decision. In the end though, it is mixed martial arts, and anything can happen.

Make sure you don’t miss UFC 312 on February 8th. You can purchase the PPV on ESPN+.