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UFC 305 results: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya fight card highlights
By Jace Evans, USA TODAY,
11 hours ago
The UFC was Down Under this weekend.
UFC 305 saw fighters throwing down at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on Saturday night — at least that's when Americans were watching. The actual fighting began Sunday morning on the ground in Western Australia.
This card was loaded with Aussies and featured an intriguing main event: Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis defending his title for the first time against former champ Israel Adesanya, who had the crowd behind him.
So, what happened? Check out all the results and highlights from UFC 305:
Dricus Du Plessis got Israel Adesanya to tap in the fourth round, successfully defending his middleweight championship for the first time.
Dricus Du Plessis celebrates his win over Israel Adesanya. Paul Kane, Getty Images
The fight felt evenly matched, with both combatants getting good shots and combos in throughout. But Du Plessis turned the tide suddenly.
He landed a vicious left to Adesanya's head, and shortly after followed it up with three strong rights to the head. He pulled Adesanya down and locked in a rear-naked choke. Adesanya tapped, giving Du Plessis the submission win at 3:38 of the fourth.
There were some good exchanges in a methodical first round. Du Plessis got a small cut on his forehead but neither fighter seemed particularly worse for wear.
Things picked up in the second round. Du Plessis shot for a takedown and the fight finally went to the ground. Du Plessis was in control and tried to lock in chokes but Adesanya was able to escape and get back to his feet. The champ managed at least two other takedowns in the frame.
Adesanya seemed to take back control of the fight in the third, landing a few big shots to Du Plessis' body. Adesanya also hit a pretty awesome elbow. But Du Plessis had a response with some big punching combos.
The start of the fourth round felt very similar, with Adesanya getting good punches in. But Du Plessis once again had an answer and, before the round was through, had a sudden victory.
The men embraced after the fight, and again after their interviews, seeming to put the bad blood that had built between them in the past. Du Plessis was quite complimentary of Adesanya in his post-fight interview.
So, what's next for the champ? Well, if Alex Pereira has his way, it's a matchup with "Poatan." Shortly after the bout, Pereira — the former middleweight champ and current light heavyweight champ — took to Instagram to say he's "coming down to 185 one more time."
As for Adesanya, the former champ admitted he didn't know what his future holds after dropping his second straight bout. But he channeled Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street" and declared he's not leaving — complete with all the appropriate expletives.
There was no storybook win for the hometown hero in this one.
Kai Kara-France knocked out Perth native Steve Erceg in the first round of their flyweight bout. Kara-France, a New Zealand native, struck suddenly, leveling Erceg with a left. Erceg managed to get back to his feet, but Kara-France finished the job with a brutal right in short order.
The TKO came at 4:04.
"This is the statement I was talking about. I want my actions to be my loudest voice," Kara-France said in the ring . "Who do you think I should fight next? For the title?"
This just might be the fight of the night. It was certainly the closest so far, at least on the scorecards.
Dan Hooker earned a split-decision victory over Mateusz Gamrot (two 29-28 cards for Hooker, one 29-28 card for Gamrot) in their lightweight battle.
The first round was action-packed. Hooker looked to be in trouble early, with Gamrot landing some furious ground and pound and opening some cuts on Hooker's face. But Hooker completely turned the tables with punches, and looked like he was on the verge of landing a knockout blow. Somehow, we reached the bell. The second round was not quite as high-octane, with Gamrot getting the fight to the ground for a large stretch. But the action picked up again in the third, with all three judges viewing Hooker as getting the better of the action.
Howie Booth, the judge who submitted a 30-27 card in favor of Tai Tuivasa in Tuivasa's fight against Jairzinho Rozenstruik, will not be judging any other fights on the UFC 305 card. He was slated to judge the Kai Kara-France vs. Steve Erceg match.
Jon Anik announced the news on the UFC 305 broadcast.
It was not immediately clear who made the call to yank Booth. But clearly it wasn't just the internet that was shocked — dare we say disgusted? — by Booth's 30-27 score for Tuivasa. His fellow judges awarded the fight to Rozenstruik, by 30-27 and 29-28 scores.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik put on a clinic, dispatching Tai Tuivasa in a frankly surprising split decision (30-27 and 29-28 scores for Rozenstruik, a 30-27 score for Tuivasa).
After a relatively quiet opening frame the action picked up considerably in the second round of this heavyweight showdown as Tuivasa found his footing. But Rozenstruik answered the push with some good combos, and went on the attack when Tuivasa hurt his foot with a kick. Tuivasa showed in the third why he's a fan favorite, gamely going the distance, but he was at a decided disadvantage when it came to significant strikes and clearly was in a worse place than Rozenstruik when the final bell sounded.
Though one of the judges didn't agree, apparently.
Carlos Prates' power devastated Li Jingliang, who was knocked out for the first time in his career.
The killshot had been building over two rounds. After a measured start to this welterweight bout, Prates began tagging Li, dropping Li multiple times in the first round. Prates continued to rock Li in the second round, eventually getting him on the run and pressed up against the cage. Another strong left hook finally did Li in at 4:02.
It wouldn't be a UFC event without some controversy! The final preliminary bout of the night, a heavyweight fight between Junior Tafa and Valter Walker, was stopped by the referee at 4:56 of the first round. Tafa was not happy about the stoppage.
Walker had gotten Tafa's leg in a pretty nasty-looking heel hook. We can deduce that it hurt, because Tafa cried out in pain. It's what brought the stoppage. (An "involuntary scream" falls under the UFC's verbal tap guidelines .)
Regardless, Tafa was immediately peeved, and he eventually got in Walker's face to exchange some words. He even lightly slapped Walker.
Tafa then bobbed his middle finger as the decision, a technical submission victory for Walker, was announced.
This felt like our closest bout of the night, and the scorecards reflected that. Brazil's Ricardo Ramos ended the run of Australian winners with a split-decision victory over Josh Culibao (two judges scored it 29-28 Ramos, one had 29-28 Culibao.)
Both fighters had moments in the first round, with Culibao appearing to hurt Ramos. But perhaps Culibao was a bit over-aggressive in his pursuit and the fight went to the ground — and Culibao soon found himself in major trouble. Ramos appeared to be on the verge of choking Culibao out, but Culibao found a way to survive after considerable struggle. But then Culibao appeared to have the initiative in the second round, even showing off a bit by hitting a pirouette at one point.
Ramos came out strong in the third, though, bloodying Culibao's face a little and gaining some more time in control on the ground. Two of the judges awarded him the round for his efforts — and that earned him the win in the featherweight fight.
The Australians are rolling now. Casey O'Neill made it three wins in a row for the home country fighters, scoring a 30-27, 30-27, 30-26 unanimous decision victory over Luana Santos in their women's flyweight fight. O'Neill was in control throughout and might have gotten a submission in the final round if time had not expired.
O'Neill's victory gets her back on track. After a 9-0 start to her pro MMA career, O'Neill lost both her fights in 2023.
We have another stoppage! Jack Jenkins defeated Herbert Burns via TKO at 0:48 of the third round.
When this featherweight fight was on the feet, Jenkins dominated. He pummeled Burns, repeatedly landing painful body shots. The only way Burns survived was by shooting for takedowns. It's a well he went to a lot.
In the end, it was a kick that set the stage for Jenkins' victory. The Australian's kick to Burns' leg hurt the Brazilian, who soon crumpled to the mat under Jenkins' onslaught. After some ground and pound, Jenkins backed off to let Burns up. Burns was unable to rise. Fight over.
Tom Nolan was a massive favorite for this lightweight bout against Alex Reyes but for the first time in his UFC career, one of his fights went the distance. Nolan controlled the action, though, and secured a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). After an uneven start, which included eating an illegal knee in the first round, Nolan began to take over in the second round. He seemed close to securing a submission win in the third round, but Reyes stayed alive.
The punching power of Song Kenan was on full display in his unanimous decision victory over Ricky Glenn (30-27, 30-26, 29-28). Perhaps the only surprising thing about this welterweight bout is it went the distance, and credit to Glenn for that.
Glenn actually got off to a good start, but Song soon took over, teeing off on the American with rapid flurries of punches. Glenn appeared to be staggered multiple times, and his face was left a battered mess. A fairly big hematoma also sprouted on the right side of his head.
Getting choked out at 6:45 a.m. has to be quite the experience.
Jesus Aguilar slept Stewart Nicoll in the first round with an expert guillotine choke, drawing the stoppage at 2:39. The only blemish with Aguilar's win over the Australian in the short-but-eventful flyweight bout: he missed weight by 1.5 pounds.
Stewart Nicoll and Jesus Aguilar are in the ring at RAC Arena! Presumably the crowd will fill out throughout these preliminary bouts. After all, it's not quite 7 a.m. there yet.
The early prelims and prelims will be broadcast on TV on ESPN, with a live stream available via ESPN+. The pay-per-view main event can be purchased and streamed through ESPN+.
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