The 12-fight UFC 305 card in Perth, Western Australia, featured a middleweight title showdown between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya. While du Plessis retained his title in a fourth-round submission win, other stars like Kai Kara-France and Dan Hooker also turned in strong performances. To make sense of it all, Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale and Sam Bruce offer their final thoughts.
Healthy: What could have been a legendary champion coming to reclaim his throne ended up being the coronation of the new middleweight king.
Dricus Du Plessis silenced the naysayers by submitting Israel Adesanya in the fourth round to retain the UFC middleweight championship in the main event of UFC 305 at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
In recent years, the South African sometimes seemed to have technical flaws in the Octagon, but he managed to find a way to win. His striking often looked off-balance and his cardio was always in question. Still, Du Plessis climbed the middleweight ladder with win after win and took home UFC gold by beating Sean Strickland in January. However, it wasn’t until he faced the man who has long been considered one of the greatest middleweights of all time that he received the credit he deserved.
Du Plessis passed the test with flying colours by doing what he always does. He was explosive with his punches and used brute force to push Adesanya to the ground when necessary. And when he felt the fight was slipping away in the fourth round, he went all out to put together a finishing sequence that saw him become the first fighter to submit Adesanya and cement himself as reigning champion in a thrilling title fight.
There’s a lot to be said for Du Plessis entering hostile territory in an emotionally charged fight and exiting the Octagon with championship gold still in his possession. UFC 305 was packed with fighters from the region and Du Plessis was the odd man out, despite being the champion. It didn’t matter. He was undeterred and accepted the challenge.
As for Adesanya, his future is not entirely clear. He is not retiring, but at 35, where does he go from here? He remains the only man to have beaten Alex Pereira in the UFC and there could be an appetite for a rematch. Will he stay at 185 pounds and try to move up in weight again? Is he still as good as he was when he swept the middleweight division from 2019 to 2023?
There are more questions than answers for the former champion, who lost two consecutive fights for the first time in his career. With Du Plessis, he answers questions with each victorious fight.
One thing is certain: while it's not always pretty, it is effective. No one has figured him out and his current streak of defeating Robert Whittaker (TKO), Sean Strickland (decision) and now Adesanya (submission) is one of the most impressive streaks in the sport.
Will people finally give him their respect? They should. He earned it with his performance in Perth.
The champion prevailed over an angry Adesanya, who looked refreshed and energized after 11 months off. He overcame adversity and pushed himself to the limit to bring the title back to South Africa. According to UFC CEO Dana White, a rematch with Strickland is next in the cards. If he can get past Strickland, some new challengers could force their way into title contention (Khamzat Chimaev, Brenden Allen… and maybe Pereira?) and test the champion.
For now, Du Plessis' style will always have people believing he can be beaten, but until someone does, “Stillknocks” remains the king of the 185-pound division.
No more carelessness regarding Kai Kara-France
OkamotoThe disrespect towards Kara-France in the build-up to this fight was savage.
It’s not that no one was saying anything negative about Kai Kara-France; they just weren’t saying anything at all. It felt like this flyweight fight was being overlooked, for one thing. And secondly, everything that was being said about it was mostly from the side of Steve Erceg. Erceg was a huge betting favorite, and the sport was still in love with how he competed against flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 in May.
And for good reason. Erceg was one bad decision away from most likely winning the UFC flyweight title, and doing so against a top-10 pound-for-pound contender in Pantoja. But that was his last fight, not this one, and it seemed the sport thought this was his fight to lose.
Kara-France had notched 12 first-round wins before this fight. He is the only fighter to beat Askar Askarov, and he did so as a betting underdog of more than 3-to-1. He probably should have beaten Amir Albazi in their five-round fight last year, when he was arguably robbed on the scorecards. He is a smart flyweight with arguably the most power in the division and no glaring flaws. Why was he such an underdog to Erceg on Saturday, an opponent who has a fraction of his top-level experience?
He may be overlooked for his soft voice and, to be fair, he has lost some of his biggest fights that would have cemented him as an elite boxer in the eyes of most observers. But let this win be, because Kara-France should not be overlooked in the future.
Australian and New Zealand stars shine in Perth
BruceAway from the main and co-main events, the best local results went to Dan Hooker, Jack Jenkins and Tom Nolan, while there was another heavy defeat for a crowd favourite in Tai Tuivasa. After Australian Stewart Nicoll went down in gruesome fashion in the first fight of the card, Nolan put in a masterful performance to defeat Alex Reyes by unanimous decision. The Queensland fighter landed a combination of kicks, elbows and punches, opening a cut on Reyes’ left cheek along the way, as he earned two 30-27 scorecards as part of a unanimous decision victory. Nolan has reeled off two straight wins after losing his UFC debut to Nikolas Motta and now looks ready to take a step up in quality for his next featherweight opponent. Meanwhile, Jenkins looked superb in his return from a near 12-month layoff following a dislocated elbow at UFC 284 last year, as he recorded his first UFC finish with a complete domination of Herbert Burns. At times, Burns seemed more focused on doing his best impression of infamous Australian Olympic breakdancer “Raygun” than taking on the dynamic Jenkins. But in the end, the Australian ran out of patience to finish the fight with a flurry of punches early in the third round. He is now eyeing another fight later this year, even if it means he will miss Derby Day on November 2, the biggest day on Australia’s horse racing calendar and a favourite for Melbourne-based people like Jenkins. And then there was Hooker, for whom fighting is never boring. The New Zealander gave the City Kickboxing trio the perfect start after a spectacular three-round fight, in which Hooker earned a split decision victory, his third consecutive triumph. Takedown defense was critical to Hooker's victory after he spent much of the time on his back in the first round and then again at the start of the second. As the fight progressed, he turned defense into offense, dishing out much more punishment when the fight returned to the feet. Hooker was later taken to hospital for a CT scan of his head and face, but a third straight lightweight win – and his 14th in the UFC overall – ensures he remains in contention for the lightweight title. “I want them all. I want BMF, I want Conor, I want a title eliminator,” Hooker said after the fight to the roars of the RAC Arena.
