‘Africa Would Have Won Either Way’: DDP and Adesanya Bury Hatchet After UFC 305

Dricus du Plessis looked miserable. Fatigued, tired, and forced to deal with being walked down by former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya Sunday in Perth, Australia, during UFC 305. But looking pretty doesn’t win out fights.

Toughness does. Following a long buildup and a sometimes ugly war of words, du Plessis backed up his talk as one of the great fighters in the sport. After being rocked by several body shots in the fourth round, du Plessis blitzed forward and rocked Adesanya several times before securing a takedown.

Du Plessis quickly hopped on Adesanya’s back and secured a face-crank submission. During the post-fight interview, du Plessis showed respect to the man he made cry during the press conference during fight week, according to MMAfighting latest news.

“This man has done so much for the sport. I’m really sorry that it came across that I disrespected the fact he was from Africa; that was never my intention,” du Plessis said. “Africa would have won either way. Tonight, South Africa was the victor, and it was an honor for me to share the cage with a legend like that.”

The end of the bout was a shocking turn of events. Adesanya had turned the tables following a slow start and was landing at a high rate to the body. Adesanya was likely winning the fourth round before du Plessis ended the fight.

This was the first time in Adesanya’s career he lost via submission. Adesanya and du Plessis provided a compelling main event in one of the better pay-per-view cards since UFC 300.

Drama Done for Now; Izzy Won’t Retire

Adesanya took a year off following his shocking loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 last September. While Adesanya looked energized, the 35-year-old fighter still took his third loss in his past four fights. Immediately after tapping out, he leaned into the camera and let everyone know he planned to keep fighting.

“I made a slight mistake,” Adesanya said. “Watch me, I’ll be back.”

It’s hard to imagine Adesanya walking away. The former champion has been one of the most active fighters in UFC history. He doesn’t have much left to prove, but there are plenty of compelling matchups left for him in the middleweight division.

He can also try to increase in weight and have a trilogy fight with Alex Pereira. Du Plessis acknowledges that Adesanya still packs a wallop, according to the best MMA news sites.

“I did not want to be kicked by that man again,” du Plessis said.

Kara-France May Get His Title Shot

Kai Kara-France picked up an impressive victory over former UFC flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg. He became the first flyweight to produce a first-round finish in 2024. More importantly for Kara-France, he immediately became a viable title challenger for Alexandre Pantoja.

Kara-France is an impressive striker, and most importantly, he’s one of the few top-ranked flyweights who has never fought Pantoja before.

Hooker Picks Up Close Decision

Mateusz Gamrot going to Australia to fight Dan Hooker was a strange decision for the Polish fighter. Hooker was a lower-ranked fighter, and the event was being held in his home country. Throughout the fight, Hooker showed improved takedown defense.

When Hooker stopped the takedowns, he was able to land hard power punches to bring out the roar from the Australian crowd. The judges ended up siding with Hooker for a split decision win. But that wouldn’t be the biggest judging controversy of the night.

Judge Earns His Walking Papers

The man who may be most remembered from the fight between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Tai Tuivasa fight may not be either of the combatants. The two heavyweights put together a low-volume, ho-hum effort, and neither man came close to finishing the fight.

It was clear that Rozenstruik outlanded Tuivasa, who struggled to find his range. Everyone who watched the fight, maybe around the world, agreed to this, except for judge Howie Booth.

Booth scored the fight 30-27 for Tuivasa, while the other two scored it 30-27 for Rozenstruik. Booth was removed from the card following the effort. He was originally set to do the co-main event.

Prates Pick Up Legendary KO

Carlos Prates may be one of the UFC’s most underrated stories in 2024. He found his way to the promotion through Dana White’s Contender Series. All he’s done since joining the main roster is obliterate his opponents.

Li Jingliang, who has never been knocked out before, was his most recent victim. Prates patiently hit Li with power strikes for as long as the fight went on. During the second round, Prates’ power wore down the Chinese fighter and allowed him to pick up his third KO victory of the year.

Don’t Scream If You Want to Fight

Junior Tafa should know better. But the way he acted after losing his heavyweight fight to Valter Walker raised some questions. Late in the first round, Walker locked in a heel hook.

As the two men twisted to the canvas, Tafa shouted in pain, and the referee quickly stepped in to stop the fight. Tafa claimed he wasn’t tapping out and continued to have words with Walker.

Tafa even shoved Walker in the face following the fight. It was a poor reaction and doesn’t reflect well on Tafa.

Here’s a look at the rest of the fights on the card not mentioned above:

• Featherweight, Ricardo Ramos win by split decision over Joshua Culibao, 29-28 (Ramos x2), 29-28 (Culibao)
• Women’s flyweight, Casey O’Neill win by decision over Luana Santos, 30-27 (x2), 30-26 
• Featherweight, Jack Jenkins win by TKO (retirement) over Herbert Burns, Round 3 :48
• Lightweight, Tom Nolan win by decision over Alex Reyes, 30-27 (x2), 20-28
• Welterweight, Song Kenan win by decision over Ricky Glen, 30-26, 30-27, 29-28
• 127.5-pound Catchweight, Jesus Santos Aguilar win by submission (Guillotine choke) over Stewart Nicoll, Round 1 2:39

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By Dean McHugh.