UFC President Dana White (Photo by Thomas King/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Fans aren’t exactly excited about the quality of the UFC 312 pay-per-view card.
Marcel Dorff of Tapology posted the fight order on X, and fans weren’t holding back in sharing their feelings about the February 8 event.
Before we look at the reactions, here’s a look at the entire card and match lineup:
Main Card PPV – ESPN+
(c) Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland – UFC Middleweight Championship
(c) Weili Zhang vs. Tatiana Suarez – UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
Tallison Teixeira vs. Justin Tafa – Heavyweight
Jimmy Crute vs. Rodolfo Bellato – Lightweight
Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado – Lightweight
preliminarily
Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos – Featherweight
Cody Haddon vs Aleksandre Topuria – Bantamweight
Tom Nolan vs. Viacheslav Borshchev – Lightweight
Hyun Sung Park vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel – Flyweight
Early prejudices
Quinn Salkilld vs. Anshul Jubli – Lightweight
Kevin Jousset vs. Jonathan Micallef – Lightweight
Cong Wang vs. Bruna Brasil – Flyweight
Kody Steele vs. Rongzhu – Lightweight
Popular MMA account Spinning Backfist posted a Daniel Cormier meme in response.
Alex Behunin of MMA Mania answered:
“Fun Parliament, Terrible PPV.”
One fan also commented:
“Underrated bangers. This would be an all time fight night. No disrespect, but Tafa as a PPV featured fight and Jake Matthews on a PPV main card in 2025 is crazy. Compete that with UFC 311. Anyone who says this is a great PPV card is trying too hard to be brave.”
A second fan slammed the card, remarkably calling it “a 1/10 card.” This is not true, but it was said.
A third fan called it a “favorite for worst card of the year.”
Is the card really that bad? On paper, it’s worse from top to bottom than UFC 310, which was marred by Belal Muhammad’s withdrawal from the main event.
That said, I’ve seen cards like this produce great fights. However, pay-per-views don’t sell for these reasons. Fans will watch the five bouts at the top of the card and make their own decision to buy or not.
Die-hard fans, like me, will buy every month if I’m not present with the press. UFC PPVs are as automatic for me as my favorite team playing on Sunday in the NFL. Regardless of the match, I’ll be there.
However, this is not what Dana White and the UFC want. They would prefer to produce top-notch shows once a month, but the truth is, it’s not really possible. Between fighter draws and a limited amount of stars, it’s inevitable that you’ll see cards like UFC 312.
One of the biggest problems with UFC 312 is the main and co-main event. If they were stronger, fans could look past the extremely soft PPV card as a whole.
TORONTO, ONTARIO – JANUARY 19: (L-R) Opponents Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa … [+]
As open as Sean Strickland is and as popular as Dricus Du Plessis is starting to become, almost no one wanted to see this rematch. The first fight wasn’t great and Strickland doesn’t have a crowd pleasing style.
He’s a strong technical striker, but he doesn’t get many finishes and tries to make up for it with ferocity. Honestly, people are ignoring it at this point.
That said, giving him a rematch and an opportunity to regain the title he lost by a close split decision to DDP in January 2024 was the right thing for the UFC.
Would fans have preferred to see DDP vs. Khamzat Chimaev? You bet, but Strickland deserved the opportunity more. Chimaev should be next.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 13: Zhang Weili of China poses for a portrait after her victory during … [+]
The co-main event features one of the best overall fighters in Weili, but she hasn’t been active and hasn’t connected much with most American fans. Suarez has been even less active than Weili due to injuries. However, as a main event, this match feels more like a necessary fight than an exciting one.
However, I will cover that fight week as I have the others once it rolls around.
