UFC 312 officially lands 2 title fights for Australia PPV in February

The UFC is returning to Australia with some familiar faces atop a championship doubleheader.

Dricus du Plessis is set to defend his UFC middleweight title in a rematch against former champ Sean Strickland on Feb. 9 in the main event of UFC 312 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

In the night's co-main event, UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili puts her belt on the line against longtime — but often snakebitten — contender Tatiana Suarez.

The UFC announced the championship pairings Saturday night on the UFC 310 pay-per-view broadcast.

Du Plessis (22-2) and Strickland (29-6) have both won recent title bouts over former two-time champion Israel Adesanya in Australia.

Du Plessis, 30, edged out Strickland via split decision in January at UFC 297 to capture the belt. A native of South Africa, du Plessis is 8-0 to start his UFC career, having finished the likes of Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson and Darren Till on his path to snatching the title. In his first title defense, du Plessis submitted Adesanya via fourth-round face crank this past August at UFC 305.

Strickland, 33, won a split decision over Paulo Costa in June to secure his shot at revenge against the champ. A native of California, Strickland stunned Adesanya in a one-sided decision to win the belt at UFC 293 in a performance that, at the time, was generally considered one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. "Tarzan" also owns notable wins over Brendan Allen and Nassourdine Imavov.

Zhang (25-3) and Suarez (10-0) meet in a matchup that's long been discussed but has been derailed in multiple instances because of delays on Suarez's side.

Zhang, 34, is a two-time champion who recaptured the title with a second-round submission of Carla Esparza in late 2022. Since then she's notched two successful defenses of her belt, winning unanimous decisions over Amanda Lemos and Yan Xiaonan.

Suarez, 33, has been hailed as a future champion in waiting since winning "The Ultimate Fighter 23" in 2016, however repeated injuries and bad luck have held her to just two UFC bouts since 2019.

Suarez is 7-0 in the UFC with notable stoppage wins over former champs Alexa Grasso, Jessica Andrade and Esparza. She was previously scheduled to face Virna Jandiroba in a No. 1 contender's bout at UFC 310, but withdrew due to injury.