Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) failed to recapture the middleweight title from Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) on Saturday with a unanimous decision loss in the UFC 312 main event. The result pushes him far away from the title picture, and that means matchmaking gets trickier.

There is no debate after UFC 312, Dricus du Plessis is the rightful UFC middleweight champion. Questions remain about who the promotion's best 185-pounder is. Fortunately, those questions could be answered this year.