UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2 - Feb 8 🇦🇺

[wandshogun09]

G’day. Next up on the PPV calendar, we’re off to Sydney…

PPV MAIN CARD
Dricus Du Plessis©️vs Sean Strickland - Middleweight Title 

Zhang Weili©️vs Tatiana Suarez - Strawweight Title

Tallison Teixeira vs Justin Tafa 

Jimmy Crute vs Rodolfo Bellato 

Jake Matthews vs Francisco Prado 

ESPN PRELIMS
Jack Jenkins vs Gabriel Santos 

Tom Nolan vs Viacheslav Borshchev 

Wang Cong vs Bruna Brasil

Colby Thicknesse vs Aleksandre Topuria  

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS 
Kody Steele vs Rongzhu

Kevin Jousset vs Jonathan Micallef

Quillan Salkilld vs Anshul Jubli

 

There’s no dressing it up, this has to be one of the weakest PPV cards in a long, long time. A main event rematch nobody really wanted, a solid co-main but the challenger might not show up…then the rest? There are a couple of bits and pieces I like the sound of but on the whole, this is a ridiculously thin lineup. Too many no hopers and DWCS guys making their debuts. Hopefully it surpasses my low expectations. That shouldn’t be hard because my expectations are rock bottom.

 

 

Dricus Du Plessis vs Sean Strickland 2 tops the bill. Not feeling this at all. I think everyone felt like it should’ve been Khamzat Chimaev challenging Du Plessis next, after the way he crushed Robert Whittaker a few months ago. But we’re stuck with this. Dana has recently confirmed that Khamzat is next in line and will fight the winner of this fight. We’ll see how all that plays out. But yeah, I’m not really looking forward to this. The buildup or the fight itself.

The first fight was at UFC 297 in January last year. Strickland was the champion going into that one, having scored the upset to take the title off Israel Adesanya a few months earlier. After years of witnessing Anderson Silva’s reign of terror and the likes of Whittaker, Adesanya and Alex Pereira in the title picture, it felt like a massive comedown seeing Strickland with the belt. Just felt so wrong. It was like some jobber won the WWF championship or something. I get Strickland isn’t a ‘jobber’, as much as I can’t stand him he’s not a terrible fighter. He’s is terrible to watch though. But it didn’t look right seeing him in PPV main events and stuff. It still doesn’t. For fans who remember when he was nothing more than Fight Night undercard fodder, to see him headlining cards now it’s almost like when we were expected to accept JBL as a main eventer seemingly overnight, after years of lower card mediocrity as Bradshaw. Amazing what being a gobby cunt will do for you. Literally nobody gave a shite about Strickland a few years ago. But becoming a controversial edgelord gobshite will always gain you a following in the cesspool MMA fanbase.

Anyway…

DDP had that prick crying in the buildup to the first fight. I hate Strickland fight buildups in general and usually actively skip most of it but I caught some of this and I can’t pretend I didn’t take some pleasure in seeing that cunt get a taste of his own medicine. DDP brought up Strickland’s dad beating him as a kid. That’s what caused the tears. Obviously horrible stuff, that goes without saying. I’m not a fan of bringing stuff like that up but, let’s face it, Strickland opened himself up for that with all the vile shit he’d been saying for years. He made fun of a couple of fighters who died, joked about rape, endless homophobic shite, race stuff, brought fighters wives and families into it, the lot. He was calling DDP gay and a “faggot” and stuff. Like a typical bully, he can dish it out but cries when someone gives it back. You can’t say awful personal shit to and about people for years and then bitch and moan when you’re on the receiving end. When you cross lines like that, you invite the same back and nothing is off limits. Du Plessis said himself that he matches his opponents energy. If they’re respectful, he’ll be respectful. If they’re a dick, he’ll be a dick. And he’s turned out to be quite a shit talker. Expect more of that here. Strickland can’t compete with DDP verbally so it’s likely gonna get ugly and personal again. Like always with Prickland, I won’t bother with the press conference but I’m sure I’ll catch snippets on Twitter. Hopefully DDP terrorises him again.

Du Plessis won the title from Strickland that night in Toronto. From what I remember it was a really close one. DDP won by split decision in the end and I was obviously over the moon with that. But as much as I hate to admit it, I recall not being sure about the decision. I’ve seen Luke Thomas say that he had DDP winning in real time but had Strickland winning when he watched it again. It was that close. I’ll have to rewatch it and do a little review closer to fight night because I’m hazy. I remember seeing Strickland fans having a meltdown about it being some huge robbery and all kinds of mad conspiracy theories. It really highlighted what a truly pathetic fanbase Strickland has. I’ll have to rewatch it but from my memory it was a razor close fight that could’ve gone either way. It was no robbery. But Strickland fans completely lost their shit in the aftermath. And they were talking like he’s some crazy blood and guts warrior, which made it even funnier. I tweeted just after the show, laughing at how Strickland fans were acting like he was as exciting as Robbie Lawler or something and I had the sad cunts in my mentions for days on end crying about it and bringing up nonce cases in Birmingham because they saw on my profile I’m from there. That’s the level you’re dealing with when it comes to Strickland fans. You’re a nonce if you don’t think he’s as fun to watch as Robbie Lawler 🤣 

DDP and Israel Adesanya finally met at UFC 305 in August in Perth. And DDP successfully defended the title. Again, the buildup was a bit ugly at times but the fight itself was really good. DDP got the submission in the 4th round and they seemed to let go of the beef post-fight which was actually nice to see. Like I said above, after Khamzat squashed Whittaker in October, it seemed like we were on track to see DDP vs Khamzat next. Not sure why they went with the Strickland rematch over that. I do get the argument for Strickland just because of how close the first fight was. He arguably had a good case for winning that fight. So I’d get it…IF there wasn’t a much better, fresher and more appealing option in Khamzat. All Strickland’s done since the first DDP fight is beat Paulo Costa on points in one of the worst fights of 2024. Compare that to an undefeated Khamzat rearranging Whittaker’s jaw and teeth in about 3 minutes. There’s no debate. Oh well, hopefully we do get to see Khamzat vs the winner either way.

Saw this quote from Strickland the other day…

“Listen, I’m going to need you to be a fucking man and stand up. I know you like to wrestle and you like to choke people out and do some gay shit. But I’ll make a pact with you, you make a pact with me, that we fucking stand up like fucking men and we settle this shit like men.” - Sean Strickland

“Let’s stand up like fucking men”

🤣

Absolutely pathetic. For one, Mixed Martial Artists who can’t cope with the mixing of martial arts need to get their shit together or get out. It’s 2025, it’s been 31 years since UFC 1 and we’ve still got idiots like this? Go into Kickboxing or BKFC or something if you can’t handle the grappling. I’ll give him this though, he knows exactly what he’s doing here. Now if DDP does anything resembling grappling, Strickland’s legion of arselickers have something to run with and they’ll act like he’s a pussy for not “standing like fucking men”. When the reality is, Strickland’s trying to restrict the fight to just striking because he’s not confident he can win otherwise. Who’s really the pussy here?

Here we go then. The rematch. It’s a weird one. I’m invested because I want DDP to win and I really wanna see DDP vs Khamzat sometime this year. But the fight itself isn’t doing it for me. And that’s the Strickland factor. I can never get up for his fights and that’s simply because he’s rotten to watch. No amount of controversial soundbites are gonna fool me into pretending I enjoy watching him when the Octagon doors lock. I hope DDP beats him decisively and painfully this time. Not sure that’s what will happen. Strickland’s an awkward dickhead. But I’m really hoping DDP busts him up, takes him down and forces him to tap. There’s no debate then. With a decision, even if DDP were to win a 50-44 shutout on all scorecards, there’d be cries of robbery. Such is the delusion of Strickland fans. Even with a knockout, if you’re desperate enough you can call fluke or early stoppage. A submission is different though. You’ve been put in a position you didn’t wanna be in and forced to give up. Hopefully that’s what happens here and we can put this Strickland in the title mix shit to bed once and for all.

 

Zhang Weili vs Tatiana Suarez is co-main. I think this is going under the radar a little bit as far as upcoming title fights go. I think it’s a fascinating matchup myself. For the last couple of years Zhang’s been chugging along as champ and having these almost routine title defences where nobody really gave her opponents a chance. Wasn’t her fault, Strawweight isn’t the deepest division and she can only beat who’s there. But it’s become a thing where a Zhang fight gets announced and it’s just a given that she wins. Suarez is the first challenger she’s had in a long time that I feel is an actual threat. Really looking forward to seeing what happens here.

Zhang Weili is class. At a time when more and more fighters and fans seem to be leaning towards being arseholes, Zhang’s about as likeable as it gets and a real breath of fresh air. She’s like a female Max Holloway in a way, one of those rare cases of a fighter you never really hear anyone have a bad word to say about. What a career as well. China’s first ever UFC champion. She’s 35 years old now, which seems mad to me. I always think she’s younger. But realistically, she probably doesn’t have a ton of fights left. A 35 year old competing at 115lbs and still being a dominant champion is almost unheard of. I get that the lack of depth in the division these days plays some part but it wasn’t always like that in Zhang’s career. She blitzed a young Jessica Andrade to win the title, she had those battles with prime Rose Namajunas, and of course she went 2-0 over Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

To this day, the first Joanna fight in 2020 is probably the greatest women’s fight in MMA history and high on the list of great MMA fights full-stop for me. Definitely one of my favourites anyway. It turned out Rose Namajunas was Zhang’s boogeywoman. She went 0-2 in back-to-back fights against Rose. If not for that, she’d be on a massive unbeaten streak right now. She’s 25-3 now with the only losses being her pro debut and the two Namajunas fights. She’s gone 4-0 since her last loss with wins over Joanna Jedrzejczyk (the rematch), Carla Esparza, Amanda Lemos and Yan Xiaonan. She hasn’t been that active in recent years though. I wonder if that’s partly to do with age and winding down the career, or the weight cut getting harder or what? There was talk at one point last year that Zhang was considering moving up to Flyweight. I think we could be seeing that soon regardless of the result of this fight. At 35, the clock is ticking and if she was ever gonna go after a second division’s gold, now would be the time.

Tatiana Suarez has had about as rocky a road as you could ever imagine to get here. And that’s an understatement. What a story. Started wrestling at 3 years old, by 20 she was gearing up to fulfill her dream of competing at the 2012 Olympics in London. Then she suffered a neck injury and, during the MRI for that, it was discovered she had cancer.

“They said, ‘By the way, you can’t wrestle anymore. There’s a node on your thyroid you have to get checked out. It might be cancerous.’ I’m like, I’m 20 years old! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me. So I go there and they tell me it’s definitely cancer and I need to get treated. I was like, what? It was a very difficult time, I stayed to myself, I didn’t involve my family too much.”

“I was in a really low place when I found MMA. Wrestling was very serious to me. It was everything, it wasn’t just a hobby. Even in high school, I didn’t have a social life, I didn’t go to prom, I didn’t even walk at my graduation! I was at Olympic trials. I had a higher goal and it was all about getting that gold medal. So when it didn’t go my way, it was hard to find my way back. But I did. Now I’m here. I’m trying to be the best in the world at this now. I feel like people have seen one percent of what I can do. When everything starts coming together, I 100% believe nobody will be able to stop me.” - Tatiana Suarez

Even in MMA though, she’s had a bunch of setbacks with injuries. She went through TUF back in 2016 and won the thing. Then she won 4 fights in the UFC. By 2019, she was 8-0 and already had wins over Alexa Grasso and Carla Esparza. Unfortunately, just when it was looking like everything was lining up perfectly for her, she was taken out by another neck injury which sidelined her for the best part of 4 years. Devastating. She was out from 2019, finally returned in 2023 and miraculously looked like she hadn’t missed a beat in her submission wins over Montana De La Rosa and Jessica Andrade. But then she missed all of 2024. She had a couple of fights scheduled and cancelled due to more injuries and health problems. She just can’t catch a break. She’s insisting she’s been healthy for a while now though.

“I’ve been good since June. When you’re at the top of the division, for some reason it’s really hard to get fights, especially because there’s not that many matchups. When I was healthy, everybody was already matched up in the Top 10. They’re not going to do a Top 15 against the number one girl. I had asked for a fight, I wanted to fight Weili in August or September but she was busy with obligations she had as champion. I’ve been good for a while now, I’ve been training hard. It’s just that we haven’t been able to get a fight because of the matchups and stuff. The division was kind of messed up.”

“My mental strength is second to none. I think that plays a huge factor in fighting in general. When the bright lights shine, so do I. I always rise to the occasion and I have so much experience in another sport too. I wrestled my whole life. I’ve had so much pressure put on me my entire life.” - Tatiana Suarez

Not sure what happened last year. She was definitely supposed to fight Virna Jandiroba in December and there were conflicting reports about why that fight got scratched. Some said Suarez was out with health issues but then Suarez herself said she was fine. I suspect the UFC just scrapped the Jandiroba fight because they decided to do Zhang vs Suarez instead.

Really interesting fight, IF Suarez makes it. There’s a question to be asked about whether she should still be at #1 in the rankings when she hasn’t fought in about 18 months but sod it. They do it for twats like Colby. And rankings aside, I do think Suarez deserves the shot. She’s 10-0, has a style that could give Zhang a different kind of challenge and who else is there right now for Zhang anyway? Great fight. I said in that ‘MMA Champions 2025’ predictions thread that I fancy Suarez to win this fight and I’ll stick by it. Not massively confident in that pick and Suarez being so inactive lately doesn’t help. But I do think she could give Zhang fits with her wrestling. She’s gonna be dismissed like most Zhang opponents are but I think she’s a much trickier fight than anyone Zhang’s fought in years.

 

Tallison Teixeira vs Justin Tafa. This show doesn’t have the strongest main and co-main as it is but this is where the card really drops off a cliff. This is a fight that screams Apex but it’s somehow on a PPV main card in 2025? Never seen Teixeira fight before but I did see this pic doing the rounds on Twitter a while back…

They assigned that ref to that fight on purpose, didn’t they? 🤣 Anyway yeah, Teixeira’s coming off a first round KO win on DWCS in September. He’s undefeated at 7-0, all finishes, 6 by knockout and he’s never gone past the first round. As always with these types, who the fuck knows? Does he have a ground game, a chin, any cardio? At least he doesn’t sound boring. He’s 6’7” and only 25 years old. Not expecting much but hopefully he turns out to be legit because the Heavyweight division desperately needs new blood. Tafa’s not much good. He’s capable of fun slobberknockers with the right opponent but he’s nothing more than a one-note brawler. He’s 7-4-0-1 and coming off getting blanketed to a dull points loss against Karl Williams last March.

 

Jimmy Crute vs Rodolfo Bellato. Don’t know, don’t particularly care. Crute’s Aussie so I get them wanting to feature him but, again, PPV main card this. He’s 28 years old, 12-4-1 and has gone 0-3-1 in his last 4 fights. Hasn’t won a fight since 2020, hasn’t even fought since 2023. He actually submitted Paul Craig in his UFC debut but that was all the way back in 2018. The days of him being looked at as a potential prospect are long gone. Bellato’s Brazilian, also 28 and has a record of 12-2 with 11 inside the distance. Don’t know enough about him but his UFC debut fight was a banger, to be fair. He scored a mad come from behind TKO over Ihor Potieria in a barmy forgotten fight. He then missed all of 2024 though. Fuck knows?

 

Jake Matthews vs Francisco Prado is currently slated to kick off the PPV. Don’t mean to be a negative twat and a stuck record but man this card is shallow. Again, Matthews is Australian. I get it. But he’s 20-7, 3-3 in his last 6 and going absolutely nowhere. I think even Aussie fans would admit they’d rather see better and more relevant fighters on their main cards than this. He beat Phil Rowe on points in a lacklustre fight in June. Prado’s Argentinian, only 22 years old and 12-2 with 12 finishes. He’s coming off a decision loss to Daniel Zellhuber on the Mexico City card last February. In fairness, I remember that being a belter. And at 22, maybe there’s better to come from him. He needs to be beating Matthews though. We’ll see. Doesn’t sound a terrible fight but, like most of this card, it just feels very Fight Nighty and Apexy to me.

 

Jack Jenkins vs Gabriel Santos is one of the best fights on the card for me easy. Might not be big names and they don’t add any star power but they do add some much needed fight quality to the card. Jenkins is from Melbourne, 13-3 with 9 finishes and stopped Herbert Burns in his last fight at UFC 305 in August. Beat the shit out of him from what I remember and was probably his best performance since signing with the UFC. I’ve really enjoyed watching him so far. Same with Santos. He’s Brazilian, 11-2 with 7 finishes and beat Yi Zha on points in September. Finally got that first UFC win. He went 0-2 initially against Lerone Murphy and David Onama but it didn’t really do him justice. I felt like he was better than those results showed. He took the Murphy fight on short notice and arguably should’ve won, and he was giving Onama all kinds of problems before Onama clobbered him. This should be a really entertaining fight.

 

Tom Nolan vs Viacheslav Borshchev should be fun. Some of these prelims actually look a bit better than most of the main card to me. Nolan’s from Brisbane, 24 years old and 8-1 with 5 wins coming by KO/TKO. He got stopped by Nikolas Motta in his UFC debut but has bounced back nicely with a couple of wins over Victor Martinez and Alex Reyes. Slava Claus is 33 years old and 8-4-1 with 6 knockouts. The blueprint is out there on him at this point, he’s badly lacking in the grappling. That’s definitely the path of least resistance. On the feet he’s a lot of fun to watch though and I reckon Nolan will be up for engaging in some of that here. Can’t see how these two don’t have at least an entertaining scrap.

 

Wang Cong vs Bruna Brasil is one I’ll be checking out. Interested to see how Cong rebounds from her last fight. She came in and immediately generated some buzz last year. She was undefeated, scored a one punch KO in her UFC debut (usually unheard of in women’s Flyweight) and had that win over Valentina Shevchenko from back in their Kickboxing days. There were already comparisons being made between the Cong vs Shevchenko situation and Pereira vs Adesanya. It did have that feel of a ghost from Shevchenko’s past coming back to haunt her, stalking her across combat sports, much like Pereira did with Izzy. It’s already gone tits up though. Cong got dropped and submitted by Gabriella Fernandes on the Macau card in November and that was that. It was her first loss, maybe she can come back from it. But getting finished by an opponent the level of Fernandes, yeah the Cong hype has cooled off massively. It’s back to square one for her. Brasil’s 31, 10-4-1 and coming off a points win over Molly McCann at UFC 304 in Manchester in July. She’s not great but, honestly, she’s not even a step back from Fernandes. I thought they might try to rehab Cong with a bit of careful matchmaking now but they’re not doing her any favours. If she loses again here, any hopes of her one day getting in the title mix are dead in the water.

 

Colby Thicknesse vs Aleksandre Topuria is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here. Unusual that I highlight a prelim featuring two fighters I’ve never seen fight before making their UFC debuts but here we are. This one’s definitely got my attention. Was originally going to be Cody Haddon against Topuria but Haddon’s out. In steps Colby Thicknesse on a couple of weeks notice. Shane O’s given some backstory and info on Thicknesse further down the page but for the sake of this preview I’ll go through the motions.

He’s Alexander Volkanovski’s main training partner. First pic is from 2013, second pic is recent. What a journey. He’s Aussie, 25 years old, undefeated at 7-0 and he’s coming off 3 straight first round finishes. Just based off that - the unbeaten record, the recent form and the Volk link - I’d have been interested in his debut regardless. Then you factor in that he’s facing this guy…

Aleksandre Topuria - the slightly older brother of current reigning Featherweight champion and my 2024 Fighter Of The Year, Ilia Topuria. He turns 29 just before this fight and he’s 5-1 with all 5 of his wins being first round finishes. The lone defeat was a TKO loss in the 3rd round of a fight way back in 2015. He has won 3 fights since but he’s barely been active. He debuted in 2015, won a couple, lost one, then never fought again until 2021. Then he fought only once in 2022 and once in 2023. He’s been inactive now since May 2023. Clearly the only reason the UFC have signed him is as a favour to Ilia. It definitely has the feel of Aleksandre just jumping on the opportunity to make some paydays off the back of his brother’s success. His lack of activity and commitment to fighting doesn’t fill me with optimism but we’ll see. I saw a quote from Ilia saying Aleksandre is “even better than me” but it just seems like a brother hyping his brother up. Guram Kutateladze has said Aleksandre is “the brains of the team” and I’m guessing maybe that’s more where his skills lie. But time will tell. I’m intrigued anyway. And an extra cool little twist on this thing is, apparently Volk’s gonna be in Thicknesse’s corner and obviously Ilia’s gonna be in his bro’s corner. So we’re gonna have Volk and Topuria in opposing corners again as a little preview to their rumoured rematch. So yeah, it’s a couple of Octagon newbies but I’m in.

 

Kody Steele vs Rongzhu. No idea. Feel like I’ve said this a hundred times in this post alone but Steele’s making his UFC debut and is coming off a win on DWCS in October. He’s American, 29 years old and currently unbeaten with a record of 7-0 and 5 finishes. I did see a quote from him saying he reckons he could submit Charles Oliveira in straight grappling. So he’s not lacking in confidence. Rongzhu’s Chinese, 24 years old and 25-6 with 21 of his wins not making it to the scorecards. Quite a bit of experience for a 24 year old. He lost to Chris Padilla via doctor stoppage in his last fight in September though. Seem to recall his eye got fucked up and he couldn’t see.

 

Kevin Jousset vs Jonathan Micallef is another one I don’t have a clue about. Jousset’s French but fights out of New Zealand. He’s 10-3 and just got chinned by Bryan Battle on the Paris card in September. Australia’s Micallef makes his debut here. He’s 25 years old, 7-1 with 5 finishes and he won his DWCS fight in October by first round submission.

 

Quillan Salkilld vs Anshul Jubli. Dunno. Salkilld is making his debut, he’s from Perth and Sherdog tells me he’s 25 years old and 7-1 with 5 finishes. He won a fight on DWCS in September apparently. Jubli’s Indian, also 7-1 and got wrecked in his UFC debut by Mike Breeden. That was October 2023. Not sure why he’s been on the shelf since but here we are. Feel like I’m saying it a lot but fuck knows?

 

 

That’s 312, Sheilas and gentlemen.

Edited February 9 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

They've dressed up an Apex card and stuck the fucker on PPV here

[wandshogun09]

They really have. Look at it with the main and co-main cut off…

If you just saw that you’d never guess this was a PPV. What do they have against the Aussies? Like I said, there are always bits and bobs nerds like us will like. Jenkins vs Santos, Topuria V2’s debut, Nolan vs Slav’s alright. But even then, there’s nothing to really sink your teeth into. The main event just feels really flat and as much as I like the Zhang vs Suarez fight, it’s not enough to elevate the card. I think if you had either one of DDP vs Strickland or Zhang vs Suarez paired with a bigger more appealing title fight, it’d be fine. Those are the kind of title fights that are better as supporting co-mains under better main events. Whacking them on here together just isn’t cutting it. 

The Fight Night in Seattle a couple of weeks later looks legitimately better than this card. That one’s got a Henry Cejudo vs Song Yadong headliner, a Dominick Cruz vs Rob Font co-main, Blaydes against some roidy Russian, Barboza vs Garcia, Allen vs Fluffy and a Jean Silva fight! Pisses all over this lot. That’s the kind of card I’m actually looking forward to typing the opening thread for. This one was a bit of a chore. 

[Egg Shen]

maybe it's a little different from an Aussie perspective? UK cards have a bit of a regular feel with the cards these days. The UK regulars like Nathanial Wood, Jai Herbert etc. Those fights generate some interest over here, so maybe guys like Jake Matthews, Jimmy Crute do the same over there?

Regardless, as a PPV being sold to an American audience it's pish. Am I right in thinking there's not one ranked fighter here outside of the main and co-main?

[wandshogun09]

19 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

maybe it's a little different from an Aussie perspective? UK cards have a bit of a regular feel with the cards these days. The UK regulars like Nathanial Wood, Jai Herbert etc. Those fights generate some interest over here, so maybe guys like Jake Matthews, Jimmy Crute do the same over there?

I dunno. Maybe @Shane O' Mac Version 2 can weigh in on that? But I can’t imagine there’s much enthusiasm these days for Crute and Matthews. The ship’s sailed on both as any kind of prospect and they’re not even particularly exciting to watch. And even the UK comparison, the next London card in March is getting mostly shat on from what I’m seeing, just like 312 is. It’s always gonna make sense to put ‘local’ fighters on cards to some degree but, these days especially, when ticket prices are high, I think people mostly just want quality not necessarily just a bunch of guys with the same accent as them.

This card really could’ve done with a Volk fight. It’s a shame they couldn’t work something out but I’m guessing he’s gonna be rematching Topuria next so I understand it. I’m sure at one point there was some talk of having Volk vs Diego Lopes on this card. That would’ve made a great co-main actually and they could’ve put Zhang vs Suarez on another card.

Another option I think could’ve helped would be if they’d have just moved the Adesanya vs Imavov fight back a week from the Saudi card to this card. Obviously having Izzy on an Australia card makes sense and, while I’m not arsed about Imavov, having Izzy on here would’ve been a boost as the third from top on the PPV. Don’t know what would’ve headlined the Saudi card then but I’m sure they’d have worked it out. 

19 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

Am I right in thinking there's not one ranked fighter here outside of the main and co-main?

Jesus Christ, you are right. I just checked. I’ve seen stats like that for Apex cards but to have not one ranked fighter in the first 11 fights on a 13 fight PPV card is the absolute shits. 

[Egg Shen]

Yeah Izzy/Imavov under the two title fights would have been great.

[Carbomb]

It's so weird to me that Crute's only 28, though. Feels like he's been around forever.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

I dunno. Maybe @Shane O' Mac Version 2 can weigh in on that? But I can’t imagine there’s much enthusiasm these days for Crute and Matthews. The ship’s sailed on both as any kind of prospect and they’re not even particularly exciting to watch. And even the UK comparison, the next London card in March is getting mostly shat on from what I’m seeing, just like 312 is. It’s always gonna make sense to put ‘local’ fighters on cards to some degree but, these days especially, when ticket prices are high, I think people mostly just want quality not necessarily just a bunch of guys with the same accent as them.

Yeah so the general consensus from most Aussie fans is that they've fucked us over a fair bit with this card. They've often leant on the locals for Aussie cards, and it was more acceptable

a) in the early days when having a UFC show at all was more of a novelty

b) when the prices were more reasonable

It's the second point that is the real tipping point for most. Cheapest tickets at Qudos Bank Arena are around $600 last I looked. And they wanted $6000 for a front row seat. This show is about 1.5 hours from home, I could catch the train up and back on Sunday and still be home at a reasonable hour for dinner. I'm not going. Jimmy Crute and Jake Matthews aren't worth that kind of money.

Also, for comparison's sake, since I've been a few Aussie UFC events now:

UFC 127- My first one! Main event was BJ Penn vs. Jon Fitch. Co-main Bisping vs. Rivera, the undercard featured Mark Hunt's first walk-off KO in the UFC. Think we paid around $120 for mid level seats (same arena)

UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm. Got to see the KO heard around the world at Marvel Stadium. Also Joanna defending the strawweight gold, Hunt vs. Bigfoot, and Rob Whittaker moving up the ranks with a decent scrap and win against Uriah Hall. $80 for nosebleed tickets.

UFC Brisbane: Hunt vs. Mir. Upped the price a bit with floor seats here at $180ish, I think. Took advantage of no one turning up for prelims and parked myself front row for the first 8 fights or so. Then the people who had the seats turned up. Security goes "can I see your ticket mate?" "Nah, it's alright mate, I'll move." Second row. Got another couple of fights then finally I had to go back to my actual allocated seat at the back of the floor.

UFC: Werdum vs. Tybura. $188 (found the ticket in my photos) for a genuine second row seat at Qudos Bank. Aside from the heavyweight headliner, we had Volkanovski who was making his way up the ranks, and the debut of Tai Tuivasa who scored an amazing flying knee. Also notable names like Belal Muhammed vs. Tim Means, Nik Lentz vs. Will Brooks, Jessica Rose-Clark (okay, not a brilliant fighter, but nice to look at cageside). Best of all, I placed a multi-bet on 8 of the fights and somehow pulled it off! Walked away $1500 richer that day.

UFC 221. Over in Perth, so travel costs were a little steep, and the mid level ticket cost $300, which felt a bit stiff at the time. Originally set to be Whittaker vs. Rockhold for the middleweight title, Whittaker got hurt, so in stepped Yoel Romero. Heavy dose of Aussie fighters on the rest of the card- Tyson Pedro, Tai Tuisava, Jake Matthews, Mark Hunt (he's one of us as long as he's winning), Volkanovski, and a debuting Israel Adesanya, which is crazy to look back at.

I thought I had been to another one since then, but nothing's ringing a bell. I know UFC have been anywhere but Sydney for the majority of the past 6/7 years. Especially Perth. It might be hard to fathom how expensive Perth is to travel to for someone based near Sydney, let me put it this way- it's cheaper for me to go to New Zealand than it is Perth. Did it for Elimination Chamber last year and it was a big financial hit.

Hence, not going to this one. Cost of living crisis and inflation is real. Also, TKO being the poster boys for American capitalism. Look how they've ramped up ticket prices for WWE, then bragging to the live crowd- "this is the largest arena gate ever!" while the crowd cheers, seemingly not aware that it's corporate investor speak for "we took record amounts of money off you for this show!"

If the card was better, maybe I'd start a OnlyFans and try and get a decent ticket that way. As it is, pass.

Edited January 26 by Shane O' Mac Version 2

[wandshogun09]

Cheers for the insights Shane O.

I haven’t bothered going to a UK card in so long now I can’t even remember what the last one was. I think it might’ve been Gustafsson vs Manuwa at the O2 in 2014. Eleven years ago, fuck! There’s been a few I’ve liked the look of and considered but it seems like every time the tickets are a bastard to get and/or I can’t justify the prices. If they did a card in Birmingham again I’d most likely go regardless. They’d either run the Utilita (formerly NIA) which is a 20 minute drive away or the NEC which is even less. Can’t be arsed travelling to London and sorting travel and accommodation to watch the likes of Molly McCann and Mick Parkin though.

31 minutes ago, Shane O' Mac Version 2 said:

UFC Brisbane: Hunt vs. Mir. 

Oh, I feel a rewatch of that coming on…

31 minutes ago, Shane O' Mac Version 2 said:

If the card was better, maybe I'd start a OnlyFans and try and get a decent ticket that way. As it is, pass.

I’ve already told Mrs Wand that, if by some miracle we somehow ever get Tom Aspinall vs Jon Jones over here, like at Wembley or something, she’s gonna have to start selling feet pics on there or something because I’d have to go to that one. 

Edited January 26 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

I have little interest in going to a live show these days, MMA or Boxing really. Unless i'm gonna break the bank and sit ringside i'd rather watch it from home. I'm glad i've got to experience some pretty good shows live though.

Edited January 26 by Egg Shen

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, I’m mostly the same. I’ll be 40 in July. I’m too old for that shite now. But I would love to experience a proper big blockbuster type fight at least once. Something like Aspinall vs Jones or Fury vs Joshua I’d be all over if I could get tickets. Anything less than that kind of fight and I think I’m at the stage where I just can’t be arsed and would rather just watch from the comfort of home. 

Edited January 28 by wandshogun09

[Zebra Kid Mark]

That card is the absolute drizzling shits. If the first 3 fights on the main card were placed on an Apex prelim, I don't think I would bat an eyelid, this could be the worst PPV card in a long long time. I'm hoping the Aussie fans come out and make it a lively crowd as they could possibly save this card from being a dud.

Considering all the big name Aussie (and Kiwi) fighters they have on their payroll, this is the best they could come up with?

I also prefer to watch MMA in the comfort of my own home. I don't even bother looking up how much UFC London tickets are now as I know they will either be sold out or not in in the price range I would find acceptable. I don't fancy being apart of a "record breaking gate" stat.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Interesting adjustment to this card that has actually elevated my excitement a little. Cody Haddon is out of the fight with Aleksandre Topuria, replaced by Colby Thicknesse.

Colby Thicknesse is Volkanovski's main training partner at Freestyle Fighting Gym down here. He's a great talent, and a prospect that was probably going to get the call in the near future anyway. He got a little snakebit with injuries in his early career, but has rattled off four straight wins coming into this and managed to stay healthy. And obviously there's some inbuilt storyline here because of the history with Volk and the more successful Topuria brother.

I don't personally know Colby himself, but I actually know his dad fairly well, we used to do exercise physio sessions together. He was rehabbing his knee and I have Cerebral Palsy, so I've been going weekly the past few years. Then there's a pro wrestling connection- I've started doing some training when my body's up for it, and one of the guys I train with is a good mate of Colby as well.

This fight change isn't enough for me to buy a ticket, but still very cool to see. Last minute call up is tough, but win or lose I hope Colby has a good showing.

https://www.codesports.com.au/ufc/i-want-to-finish-him-volks-teammate-colby-thicknesse-wants-revenge-on-topuria-after-late-notice-ufc-312-callup/news-story/260cf320b036b150c1ecfb4f343069b6?fbclid=IwY2xjawIHkThleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRkQo8qyB4aPPtRZG33kLhNPB96ngZG-Ol76aC0VhJUTkdDPwDG_uGRfjQ_aem_Uy9kJmAkeleBfH6gvoMD_Q

[Dai]

I know alot of people, quite rightly, are shitting on the depth of this one, but the top two bouts are both fantastic fights I think. For a PPV in this era, where you had that really shite MSG show a while back, amoungst others, I think this is the model they go for now, rather than depth. As a two fight show, both fights are really interesting ones. I think Im especting Suarez to rag doll Weili in the grapping and ground exchanges, so am very intruiged to see how it plays out.

[wandshogun09]

Updated the opening post. That Colby Thicknesse vs Aleksandre Topuria fight is my ‘one to watch’ now. Definitely more into that fight than I’d usually be for a couple of debuting fighters. The fact Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria are supposed to be in the respective corners adds to it as well. Cool fight.

Imagine if Norma Dumont married Colby Thicknesse?