Dana White and co. will have their fingers crossed that there isn't a repeat of the late withdrawal in Los Angeles earlier this month when the promotion heads Down Under for UFC 312.

Two names familiar to the attending Aussie fanbase will compete inside Qudos Bank Arena, with last year's Sydney headliner, Dricus Du Plessis, meeting 2023's main event victor in the city, Sean Strickland.

Their middleweight championship rematch won't be the only title fight on the UFC 312 card, with strawweight queen Zhang Weili also set to defend her throne opposite undefeated challenger Tatiana Suarez.

While anticipation is building for those contests, fans will be well aware that no matchup is certain to go down until the cage door closes behind the athletes.

Disappointment was evident when the highly awaited second clash between Makhachev and Tsarukyan fell through, but that scenario hasn't convinced the UFC to make additional arrangements for the second PPV of the year.

Per MMA Fighting's Damon Martin, no fighters are currently expected to make the long-haul flight to Australia to serve as backup for the UFC 312 main or co-main events.

The organization has often paid contenders to hit the scale as alternative options should injury or illness strike late in the day. But that hasn't been the case since Tom Aspinall did so back at UFC 309 in November.

Dana White and co. will have their fingers crossed that there isn't a repeat of the late withdrawal in Los Angeles earlier this month when the promotion heads Down Under for UFC 312.

Two names familiar to the attending Aussie fanbase will compete inside Qudos Bank Arena, with last year's Sydney headliner, Dricus Du Plessis, meeting 2023's main event victor in the city, Sean Strickland.

Their middleweight championship rematch won't be the only title fight on the UFC 312 card, with strawweight queen Zhang Weili also set to defend her throne opposite undefeated challenger Tatiana Suarez.

While anticipation is building for those contests, fans will be well aware that no matchup is certain to go down until the cage door closes behind the athletes.

Disappointment was evident when the highly awaited second clash between Makhachev and Tsarukyan fell through, but that scenario hasn't convinced the UFC to make additional arrangements for the second PPV of the year.

Per MMA Fighting's Damon Martin, no fighters are currently expected to make the long-haul flight to Australia to serve as backup for the UFC 312 main or co-main events.

The organization has often paid contenders to hit the scale as alternative options should injury or illness strike late in the day. But that hasn't been the case since Tom Aspinall did so back at UFC 309 in November.