Dricus Du Plessis defended his middleweight title with a thrilling victory in the main event of UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.
The 185-pound championship had changed hands in four consecutive fights prior to Du Plessis’s fourth-round rear-naked choke submission win.
Du Plessis, 30, won the title in January with a split decision over Sean Strickland, who had previously taken the title from Adesanya 11 months earlier in what was considered a massive upset at the time.
Adesanya has now lost three of his past four fights. He is the only fighter with a UFC win over current 205-pound champion and former middleweight champ Alex Pereira. The 35-year-old Adesanya had never previously been submitted in his mixed martial arts career.
Kai Kara-France made a statement in the flyweight division with a first-round knockout of Steve Erceg in the co-main event. Kara-France snapped a two-fight skid with an exclamation mark, dropping Erceg with a step-through left hand before following up moments later with a flush right along the fence.
Erceg was coming off a narrow decision loss for the title at UFC 301 in May but will now have a tougher climb back to a title shot after this setback. Kara-France called for the next title shot against Alexandre Pantoja in the 125-pound division during his post-fight interview.
Mateusz Gamrot attempted to overwhelm Dan Hooker in lightweight action but ended up losing a split decision much to the delight of the crowd at RAC Arena, who began their Sunday morning with a 12-fight slate of fights.
Hooker rocked Gamrot with a clubbing left hook in the opening round and did a valiant job defending the relentless takedown attempts of his opponent throughout the back-and-forth contest. New Zealand’s Hooker has now won three consecutive bouts, two of which were by split decisions, while Poland’s Gamrot had a three-fight winning streak snapped.
Heavyweight knockout artists Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik both swung heavy leather but neither found the finishing blow and Rozenstruik ended up winning a puzzling split decision.
The one descending judge scored all three rounds for Tuivasa. That same judge was scheduled to work the night’s co-main event but was pulled from those duties following the Rozenstruik vs. Tuivasa verdict.
Tuivasa remains a popular heavyweight on the UFC roster but has lost five consecutive fights dating back to 2022, getting outstruck 344-111 in those bouts.
Brazil’s Carlos Prates extended the hot start to his UFC career and celebrated his 31st birthday in style with a highlight-reel second round knockout of Li Jingliang in the opening bout of the main card.
The rising welterweight talent earned a UFC contract with a win last year on Dana White’s Contender Series and improved to 3-0 in the UFC in 2024. Jingliang had never previously been finished by knockout.
The event featured at least one fighter from the ANZAC region in nearly every fight, with Australians Jack Jenkins and Tom Nolan impressing the crowd with victories on the preliminary card.