Three points became glaringly obvious during UFC 312 on Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia:
• Zhang Weili has improved so much, she's not only the No. 1 active pound-for-pound female fighter in the world, she's also closing in on the retired Amanda Nunes as the greatest women's fighter of all-time.
• Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis is an extraordinary talent and a bout with unbeaten contender Khamzat Chimaev would be epic.
• As good as Du Plessis is, his style does not mesh at all with Sean Strickland, and the main event on Saturday was just another blah fight. His performances against the likes of Darren Till, Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya were as entertaining as they were epic. But his two wins over Strickland were snoozers.
Du Plessis broke Strickland's nose in the fourth round Saturday in what essentially was a kickboxing match with Strickland, but little else of note occurred. Du Plessis won by scores of 50-45 twice and 49-46, but it was a bout with precious few of the "Holy shit!" moments UFC CEO Dana White lives to see on each card.
Du Plessis moved forward most of the time, as he often does, and Strickland largely flicked his jab, as he so often does. But there was little else. Neither man had a submission attempt. Du Plessis hit one of his two takedowns, and Strickland didn't even try one.
According to UFC stats, Du Plessis landed 147 of 314 significant strikes, connecting on 46 percent. Strickland connected on 128 of 163 significant strikes, landing at a 48.7 percent rate. Du Plessis landed the hardest bouts all night and at least tried to make it a scrap.
"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."
The fight, though, was hardly an edge of the seat thriller. Strickland's outlandish before the fight and in each of his last two matches, his public comments created outrage in the media. A tabloid newspaper in Sydney devoted its back page to Strickland on Thursday and referred to him as the "UFC's biggest imbecile." The largest headline at the bottom pleaded, "Will someone, please KNOCK THIS GUY OUT."
Du Plessis wasn't able to do that, though. He was content to trudge forward, throwing punches and kicks at Strickland, but he never took it up a notch to search for the finish. He's capable of that, as he had finished 20 of his 22 wins coming into Saturday's title defense.
"I told you guys, when I came here, I was trying to knock this man out," Du Plessis said. "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."
And thus, it was a five-round slog with little drama, nothing close to a finish and definitely not the "fight to the death," that Strickland had promised in one of his many outlandish pre-fight remarks. For as nutty and outrageous as he is outside the Octagon, he's disciplined and conservative inside of it.
After nearly every round, Strickland's coach, Eric Nicksick, pleaded with him in the corner to increase the output.
"I need more from you," Nicksick said after the first and repeated after each subsequent round. Strickland didn't comply and perhaps it's because of the powerful man he had relentlessly attacking.
Du Plessis mocked Strickland for being a "points fighter" before the bout, and Strickland lived up to that Saturday by eschewing risk.
Du Plessis is a massive middleweight and fighting him is kind of like standing at the bottom of a steep hill trying to fend off a runaway dump truck. It's easy to suggest one open up and throw when you're not the one who has one of the biggest middleweights ever snorting and trudging forward with dynamite in both hands.
Strickland fought conservatively as if he were biding his time hoping that Du Plessis would make a mistake that he could take advantage of and finish the fight.
"Sean is usually real good at shutting people down," White said.
He didn't exactly shut Du Plessis down, as Du Plessis won every round and landed all of the most powerful strikes in the fight.
After 10 rounds in the ring -- Du Plessis lifted the title from Strickland on Jan. 21, 2024, in Toronto at UFC 297 when he won a split decision -- it's clear their styles don't mesh. They didn't make an entertaining fight in January and it wasn't entertaining Saturday.
Du Plessis and Chimaev, though, figures to be another story. Chimaev’s aggressive wrestling, unrelenting pressure and sheer brute strength would likely force Du Plessis into a different, more action-filled, type of fight.
White seemed to like the suggestion of that bout, though as he usually does, he declined to state anything more definitive. He said they'll talk about what's next for Du Plessis at Tuesday's matchmaking meeting in Las Vegas.
Anything other than Du Plessis-Chimaev would be a mistake, though. And Du Plessis-Strickland 3 would be an utter disaster.
That's a fight we never need to see again.