The light heavyweights take center stage next. Jimmy Crute looked like a legitimate light heavyweight contender, starting his UFC run 4-1. He’s now winless in his last four fights and could be on the chopping block. Rodolfo Bellato looks to stamp out Crute’s lingering fire and improve his UFC record to 2-0.

 Official result: Jake Matthews def. Francisco Prado via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

 Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado — Round 3: Matthews immediately on the offense. Prado does a good job of landing leg kicks before moving out of the way. Prado with a body kick. Matthews lands a sneaky left hook. Prado nails a front kick to the body. Prado is doing a better job of blocking and evading his opponent’s punches this round. Matthews partially lands a head kick before fending off a takedown attempt. Prado with another body kick and leg kick. Matthews lands a heat-seeking left hook before stunning his opponent with a second one. Prado lands a nice punch but it doesn’t have the same steam. Matthews scores a thudding right hand. The fighters tangle against the fence as the clock runs out. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Matthews (29-28 Matthews overall)

 Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado — Round 2: Prado throws a lead elbow but it’s blocked. Matthews responds with a quartet of body hooks. Matthews runs into a solid counterpunch from his opponent. Prado lands two beautiful knees from the Muay Thai clinch. Matthews continues holding the center of the cage. Prado with more outside leg kicks. Matthews throws a crisp left hook. Prado walks forward and eats a clean uppercut. Prado presses Matthews against the fence halfway through the round. Matthews lands more boxing combos to the head and body. Prado’s cut is starting to leak. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Matthews (29-28 Matthews overall)

 Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado — Round 1: Matthews is active with his strikes early. He’s doing a great job of throwing offense while keeping his guard high. Prado throws back with little effect. Matthews lands with a pair of right hands. Prado lunges into a clinch but pays for it. Matthews lands half a dozen uppercuts to the chin and body. Prado with a hard calf kick on the retreat. A right-hand catches Prado over his shoulder. Both fighters land dueling right hooks. Prado scores a takedown at the four-minute mark of the round. Matthews gets to his feet with 30 seconds left. Prado is sporting a cut on his forehead. Matthews stuns Prado with a beautiful boxing combo! Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Matthews

 UFC 312’s pay-per-view main card begins shortly. We’ll have round-by-round play-by-play moving forward. Kicking off the main card are welterweights Jake Matthews and Francisco Prado. Matthews is coming off a win over Phil Rowe; meanwhile, Prado hopes to recover from a decision loss to Daniel Zellhuber.

 Official result: Gabriel Santos def. Jack Jenkins via third-round submission (rear-naked choke). Santos took Jenkins’ best shot and delivered a harder one. Jenkins dropped Santos with a head kick in Round 1. The Aussie fighter pursued the ground-and-pound but wound up in a tight triangle choke. Santos alternated between chasing the choke and an armbar but a patient Jenkins eventually escaped. Jenkins’ head kick likely secured Round 1; however, he spent most of Round 2 getting walloped by Santos on the ground. In Round 3, Santos cracked Jenkins with a nasty front kick. The Brazilian fighter capitalized on the opportunity by hopping on the fight-ending submission.

 Australia’s Jack Jenkins closes out the televised prelims on home soil. Jenkins (13-3) takes on Gabriel Santos (11-2) in a featherweight fight.

 Official result: Tom Nolan def. Viacheslav Borshchev via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27). Nolan and Borschev brawled for three hard rounds. Nolan hunted a credible D’arce choke in Round 1, but Borshcev evaded it. Nolan generally landed the harder strikes, including an impressive upkick off his back. Borshchev was bloodied but never deterred. Borshchev pressed forward constantly and landed good ground-and-pound in the closing minutes. Borshchev’s final flurry wasn’t enough to overcome Nolan’s strong performance through the majority of the fight. 

 Our penultimate preliminary card fight begins shortly: Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Tom Nolan.

 Official result: Wang Cong def. Bruna Brasil via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). It wasn’t exciting but it was an effective performance by Cong. The Chinese fighter recovered from her first career loss by outclassing her opponent. Brasil looked increasingly apathetic as the fight drew out. Cong tripled Brasil in total strikes and scored multiple takedowns over their 15-minute fight. 

 Next up is a women’s flyweight fight between Wang Cong vs. Bruna Brasil. Cong enters as a significant betting favorite.