Gilbert Burns expects one new champion to be crowned at UFC 312 and that the new titleholder will earn their belt with an emphatic performance.
Two titles are on the line Saturday in Sydney, with middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis rematching Sean Strickland in the main event, and Zhang Weili going for the third defense of her second strawweight reign when she faces the undefeated Tatiana Suarez in the co-main.
It’s that co-main event that has Burns intrigued, especially with Suarez seeking to fulfill her championship destiny after years of dealing with injuries. If Suarez is on point, Burns thinks her elite wrestling will result in her cruising to victory.
“I’m a huge fan of both, especially Tatiana Suarez,” Burns said on his YouTube channel. “She had cancer, she beat cancer, she had so many injuries, but now she’s up on her feet, she’s fighting for the title. I think she’s going to beat Zhang Weili. I think she’s going to take her down and keep taking her down and ground-and-pound and ground-and-pound. Maybe a submission, I don’t think so. But I think Tatiana Suarez is going to be ‘And New’ by decision, beating Zhang Weili.
“Don’t count Zhang Weili out, she’s still going to have her moments. I think she might hurt Tatiana a little bit, but Tatiana knows her moment, she’s going to take her down and she’s going to Khabib and win by dominant decision. Tatiana Suarez. And. New.”
Suarez has impressed whenever she enters the cage, with a grind-it-out decision win over Nina Nunes (then Nina Ansaroff) at UFC 238 in June 2019 as the only blip on her record. Outside of that, it’s injuries that have hindered Suarez, as she has fought just twice since defeating Nunes. As Burns notes, she has often been compared to the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov for her powerful wrestling style.
When it comes to Saturday’s headliner, Burns isn’t being as adventurous with his pick. He favors champion du Plessis to retain, earning another win after earning a narrow split decision nod in his first fight with Strickland at UFC 297 in January 2024. Part of his reasoning for the pick is that he’s eager to see du Plessis face off with undefeated contender Khamzat Chimaev next.
“Sean Strickland is going to do Sean Strickland,” Burns said. “He’s going to ‘Philly Shell’ forward, doing his thing. I think Dricus has so much to improve, he’s been improving, he’s been getting better. He can get beat like he did for a couple of other guys, Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker, Darren Till, at the beginning, but then eventually when he starts [going] they cannot keep up, so I’ve got to go with Dricus du Plessis winning this fight and I want to see Dricus du Plessis vs. Chimaev next. That’s the fight that I really, really want to see, so I’ve got to go with Dricus du Plessis, but it’s going to be a war.”
Check out the rest of Burns’ UFC 312 picks below.
