UFC 312 is light on value, especially compared to UFC 311, but the co-main event is solid. UFC women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili makes the third defense of her second title reign against Tatiana Suarez. "The Ultimate Fighter 23" winner Suarez was labeled a future champion out of the gate, but frequent injuries delayed the inevitable.

In the co-main event, China’s Zhang Weili (25-3) will defend her strawweight championship against top-ranked challenger Tatiana Suarez (11-0) of Rancho Cucamonga, California. Zhang has won her past three title defenses, two by unanimous decision and the other by second-round submission.

With both fighters being deceptively difficult to kill, their first encounter back at UFC 297 ended up being a tactical, back-and-forth battle that saw Du Plessis narrowly scrape out a split decision win on the scorecards to become the new champion at 185 pounds.