UFC 312 Rematch – Du Plessis Retains Title

The rematch occurred on February 8, 2025 at UFC 312 in Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena with Dricus Du Plessis defending the UFC middleweight title against Sean Strickland [8]. According to event coverage, Du Plessis won by unanimous decision, retaining the championship and extending his competitive advantage in the head-to-head series [8]. The bout was the second sanctioned, in-cage resolution following the personal and physical incidents in December 2023 and the Jan. 2024 title change at UFC 297; it represented the competitive continuation of a rivalry that had included a press-conference provocation and a crowd altercation [6][3][7]. Post-fight coverage characterized Du Plessis' victory as a successful title defense and cited official scorecards and fight analysis in recaps [8].

The UFC 312 rematch matters because it translated a heated interpersonal dispute into repeated, formal competitive outcomes: Du Plessis not only took the title at UFC 297 but also defended it against the same opponent on Feb. 8, 2025, reinforcing the sporting consequence of the rivalry and affecting both fighters' records and trajectories in the middleweight division [7][8]. The rematch outcome confirmed that the dispute's competitive arc favored Du Plessis in both the initial title change and the subsequent defense [8].

Following UFC 312, coverage emphasized Du Plessis' successful title defense and the extension of his streak against Strickland; the fight reinforced Du Plessis' standing in the division while Strickland's team and public statements continued to reference the December 2023 incidents as part of the fighters' shared narrative [8]. Public reconciliation was not reported in the sources included here, and the rivalry remained defined by its prior personal and physical incidents plus the two sanctioned fight results [8][1][3].