What’s next for the stars of UFC 312?

The UFC was in Sydney, Australia on Saturday for a UFC 312 card that saw two titles on the line.

In the main event, Dricus Du Plessis was rematching Sean Strickland for the middleweight title. The co-main event saw Weili Zhang defending her strawweight title against Tatiana Suarez.

Ultimately, it was Du Plessis who won a clear-cut decision as he dominated Strickland over all five rounds. In the co-main event, Zhang dominated Suarez over five rounds to defend her belt. Following UFC 312, here is what I think should be next for the stars of the event.

Dricus Du Plessis

Dricus Du Plessis defended his middleweight title for the second time with a dominant win over Sean Strickland. Du Plessis was able to land the better shots and even broke Strickland’s nose in the fourth round.

After the win, it’s clear that Du Plessis’ next fight will be against Khamzat Chimaev sometime later this year. It will be a highly-anticipated fight and the champ will likely be the underdog.

Sean Strickland

Sean Strickland was looking to reclaim his middleweight title after he lost his belt by split decision to Du Plessis in January of 2024. However, in the rematch, Strickland was dominated as he lost all five rounds as he couldn’t get going.

Strickland will need to win multiple wins to get another crack at the belt. But, the fight to make is Strickland vs Israel Adesanya 2. Both are out of the title picture, but there is a storyline for the rematch to happen later this year.

Weili Zhang

Weili Zhang dominated Tatiana Suarez over five rounds to defend her strawweight belt. Zhang was the underdog, but she was able to defend Suarez’s wrestling and dominate her for five rounds to get the win.

Zhang could go up to flyweight to try and be a champ-champ. But, Valentina Shvechneko needs to face Manon Fiorot next time out, so Zhang should get another title defense before a potential champ-champ fight. The next fight for Zhang should be the winner of Yan Xiaonan vs Virna Jandiroba which takes place at UFC 314.

Tatiana Suarez

Tatiana Suarez was deemed a future champ by many, and that still may be the case, despite the loss at UFC 312. Suarez struggled to get Zhang down and on the feet, as she was dominated for three rounds.

Suarez will need to get a win or two to get another title shot and a logical next fight is to face Mackenzie Dern. Both are big names and the winner of the fight could be in line to get a title shot, or a No. 1 contender fight.