UFC 312 was an exciting night of thrilling bouts lined up, with the middleweight title match between Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland as the main event. The South African successfully defended his title against Strickland. In the co-main event of the night Zhang Weili dominated Tatiana Suarez to retain her title as the fight went all five rounds. In addition to providing thrilling octagonal action, the tournament gave the combatants substantial financial rewards.
Dricus Du Plessis vs Sean Strickland
In the main event, Dricus Du Plessis retained the championship by defeating Sean Strickland with a unanimous decision. With his MMA experience he dominated the match and controlled the match with his clean strikes that aided him to a spectacular win against Sean Strickland in the fifth round.
Along with this win, not only Du Plessis received the base salary of $1.2 million but also earned around $400,000 from his PPV shares from an estimated 500,000 pay-per-view (PPV) purchases. All this adds to a total payout of $2.14 million at UFC 312 which includes $42,000 from sponsorships.
For the bout, Sean Strickland on the other hand, received $1 million as a base salary. Strickland managed to earn $1.03 million which included $32,000 from sponsorships.
Zhang Weili vs. Tatiana Suarez
In the co-main event, the Women ‘s division also set up an amazing night where Zhang Weili defended her strawweight title against Tatiana Suarez by a unanimous decision. With her MMA experience she dominated the fight from round one and gave Tatiana Suarez her first loss in the fifth round. She took home a total of $1.742 million which includes $800,000 as a base salary, $400,000 because it sells almost as many tickets as the main event does and $42,000 from the sponsorship.
Tatiana Suarez with her only loss to the UFC managed to receive a total of $332,000 which is distributed as $300,000 as base salary and $32,000 from sponsorship.
Dricus Du Plessis: $2.14 million
Sean Strickland: $1.03 million
Zhang Weili: $1.742 million
Tatiana Suarez: $332,000
These 4 players earning numbers from the match do help put the implications of any high-profile UFC event into perspective. They provide evidence of how a fighter’s earnings are significantly influenced by their performance.
UFC 312: Performance Bonuses and Highlights from Sydney
The event took place on 8 February 2025 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, and featured several exciting matchups, including title defenses from Dricus Du Plessis and Weili Zhang. After the event, the UFC announced the winners of the bonuses, with four fighters receiving an additional $50,000 for their performances.
After much deliberation, the UFC awarded bonuses in two categories: the Fight of the Night and the Performance of the Night. Fight of the Night award was presented to Rongzhu and Kody Steele for their entertaining preliminary match. On the other hand, two Performance of the Night awards were given to Quillan Salkilld and Tallison Teixeira for their phenomenal knockout victories.
The following winners received bonuses:
Fight of the Night: Rongzhu and Kody Steele for their action-packed tilt.
Performance of the Night Bonuses: Quillan Salkilld for his 19-second knockout victory over Anshul Jubli, and Tallison Teixeira for his 35-second knockout victory over Justin Tafa.
To sum it up, bonuses for UFC 312 were awarded to Rongzhu and Kody Steele for Fighting the Night and Quillan Salkild and Tallison Teixeira for their tremendous performances of the night. These very bonuses shed light on how exciting the performances of fighters were. Stay tuned to get more updates about the next developments in the UFC.
Anushka Sarkar 
REDDAVENI SAISNEHA