No one responds to adversity any better the Dricus Du Plessis. In fact, the man seems to feed off of it.
The 30-year-old South African retained his undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title in scintillating fashion and turned away Israel Adesanya with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round of their emotionally charged UFC 305 headliner on Saturday at RAC Arena in Perth Australia. Adesanya (24-4, 13-4 UFC), who had never before been submitted, raised the white flag of surrender 3:36 into Round 4.
Du Plessis (22-2, 8-0 UFC) waded through considerable difficulty before he arrived at the finish line. Adesanya zeroed in on his body with hooks from both hands and well-timed kicks, attacked his legs when the mood arose and pieced together stirring combinations to the head. Du Plessis refused to go away. The Team CIT rep executed multiple takedowns—he threatened Adesanya’s neck in the first round in a harbinger of what was in store—and connected with thudding power punches to the head. Midway through the fourth round, Du Plessis put “The Last Stylebender” in a state of retreat, clipped him with three straight clubbing right hands and dumped him to the mat. He immediately jumped to the back, set his hooks and cinched the choke before Adesanya could respond.
Meanwhile, longtime Adesanya stablemate Kai Kara-France rebounded from back-to-back losses to Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi, as he brought down ex-Eternal MMA titleholder Steve Erceg with punches in the first round of their flyweight co-main event. Kara-France (25-11, 8-4 UFC) closed it out 4:04 into Round 1.
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Erceg (12-3, 3-2 UFC) called upon a range-finding jab at the start and pressured the Kiwi onto the back foot. It mattered not. Kara-France stepped forward and floored the Wilkes Martial Arts rep with a crushing left hook. He followed up with punches, slipped out of an attempted takedown and allowed Erceg to return to an upright position. Kara-France then pressed him to the fence and uncorked a devastating right cross that dropped “Astro Boy” to a seated position, forcing him to turtle in a defensive shell while turning away from contact. More punches followed before referee Rich Mitchell could arrive on the scene to wave it off.
The victory was Kara-France’s first since March 26, 2022.
Further down the card, beloved City Kickboxing standout Dan Hooker outlasted former two-division KSW champion Mateusz Gamrot to a split decision in a stellar three-round lightweight showcase. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28: Mick Meany for Gamrot, Ben Cartlidge and Mark Christie for Hooker.
Gamrot (24-3, 7-3 UFC) initially held his own in the standup exchanges and even dropped “The Hangman” to a knee with a counter overhand right in the first round. He took top position and unleashed a hellacious barrage of ground-and-pound, but it was not enough to break Hooker (24-12, 14-8 UFC). From there, momentum shifted back and forth. Hooker, his face badly swollen and bleeding from multiple cuts, denied takedowns with an effective sprawl, the ever-present threat of a guillotine choke and slashing elbows to the side of the head. A bell-to-bell war unfolded as a result. They traded shots across the final five minutes, with neither man giving much ground. Hooker’s ability to shut down takedowns and pile up damage while doing so perhaps provided the difference.
Hooker will enter his next assignment on a three-fight winning streak.
Elsewhere, American Top Team’s Jairzinho Rozenstruik leaned on a potent jab, stinging leg kicks and tactical power punching volleys, as he laid claim to a split decision over Tai Tuivasa in a three-round heavyweight attraction. Judges Charlie Keech and David Lethaby saw it 29-28 and 30-27 for Rozenstruik, while Howie Booth cast a dumbfounding 30-27 scorecard for Tuivasa.
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Rozenstruik (15-5, 9-5 UFC) fought at his desired pace and put plenty of damage on his opponent, leaving him with a cut near his right eye and another across the bridge of his nose. Tuivasa (14-8, 8-8 UFC) picked up his pace after a slow start but could not match the Surinamese kickboxer skill for skill. Even when he was drawn into wild exchanges, Rozenstruik emerged no worse for wear and having widened his lead.
Winless since February 2022, Tuivasa has lost five bouts in a row.
Finally, burgeoning Fighting Nerds star Carlos Prates punched out Jingliang Li in the second round of their welterweight appetizer. The historically durable Li (19-9, 11-7 UFC) met his end 4:02 into Round 2, suffering the first knockout loss of his 28-fight career.
Prates (20-6, 3-0 UFC) picked his spots and did so with surgical precision. He chipped away at Li’s defenses across the first five minutes, attacked his base with low kicks and buckled his knees with clean punches to the head more than once. Prates stuck to a methodical approach in the middle stanza, eventually sitting down the Kill Cliff Fight Club rep with a blistering one-two. The Brazilian gave chase, landed virtually every punch he threw and wiped out Li with one final left hook. He could not have been more efficient.
The 31-year-old Prates has rattled off 10 straight victories, the last nine via knockout.
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