Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) remained undefeated in the Octagon, extended his winning streak to 11 fights and retained his middleweight belt with a unanimous-decision win over former 185-pound kingpin Sean Strickland as a -210 to -225 favorite in the UFC 312 headliner.

Two judges scored the bout 50-45 for the champ, while the other had it 49-46.

According to MMAdecisions, 20 of 26 media members scored it for DDP by a 50-45 score. Five had it 49-46 and one turned in a 48-47 score.

The main event was a lackluster affair, with Du Plessis getting the best of most of the stand-up action. He broke Strickland nose in the fourth round with a crisp right hand that landed perfectly.

Strickland was busted up and bloodied the rest of the way. After the fight, he revealed that his nose was broken in six places.

Nevertheless, he reset his nose between rounds and kept fighting. But a late rally from Strickland wasn’t in the cards.

“The Dutch man is a bad mother f*cker,” Strickland said in the Octagon of Du Plessis. “He kicked my ass fair and square. Props to him.”

“I told you guys, when I came here, I was trying to knock this man out,” Du Plessis told UFC analyst Daniel Cormier during his Octagon interview. “And I have said it before, but it’s next to impossible. I’d have loved another round, but that’s not the game. I told you, I wanted a submission, a knockout or an absolute domination of a five-rounder, and that’s what I gave. I’m sorry I couldn’t get him out of there.”

There’s no question about what’s on the table for DDP’s third title defense. That’ll be unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev, who is 14-0 overall and 8-0 in the UFC after beating Robert Whittaker via first-round submission (face crank, 3:34) at UFC 308 this past October.

BetOnline has Chimaev installed as a -200 ‘chalk’ vs. Du Plessis, who is a +160 underdog.

In the UFC 312 co-main event, Zhang Weili successfully defended her women’s strawweight title with a dominant UD win over Tatiana Suarez as a +125 underdog.

The judges scored it 49-46, 49-46, 49-45 for the champ, who got the best of her opponent when the fight was standing and was in total control on the ground as well.

The 35-year-old Weili has won five fights in a row since her back-to-back losses to Rose Namajunas back in 2021.