UFC 305: Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya: Full Results

UFC 305 just wrapped up. The highly anticipated event featured the first title bout featuring two African-born fighters in the promotion's history. It took place on Aug. 18 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia, and featured several high-stakes matchups that can significantly impact divisional title pictures. This article recaps the event and explores the full results.

The headlining bout was a grudge match between UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis and former two-time title holder Israel Adesanya. The pair developed a fierce rivalry after du Plessis claimed to be the first African UFC champion as the promotion's previous African-born champions, including Adesanya, live and train in other parts of the world.

This controversy was also one of the biggest storylines, besides the questions surrounding Adesanya's performance in the Sean Strickland loss and the subsequent layoff. Heading into the fight, du Plessis seemed to have won the mental game as his comments forced emotion-fueled responses from Adesanya on a few occasions.

However, that did little to throw 'The Last Stylebender' off his game as he put forth a respectable effort.

Unpredictably, both men touched gloves before the fight despite the animosity. Adesanya took the center and gave the incumbent champion different looks with his trademark feinting game. Du Plessis tried to blitz in to close the range and had success with kicks. Meanwhile, Adesanya displayed respectable takedown defense and invested heavily in body shots, presumably to sap the champion's cardio.

The challenger appeared to be getting comfortable in the striking range in Round 2. However, du Plessis started imposing offensive-minded grappling that put Adesanya in a defensive mode for the majority of the round.

In a relatively close round 3, Adesanya appeared to have outpointed the champion. While he landed impactful strikes, du Plessis' strikes appeared to be delivering more power.

Adesanya looked like the fresher fighter in the championship rounds and started opening up with his strikes. However, du Plessis stung him with several strikes to the head when the opportunity arose. He took a disoriented Adesanya down and instantly sank a rear-naked choke.

Adesanya, who had no wiggle room, tapped out after a few seconds. With the win, du Plessis successfully secured the first defense of the title and has now defeated three former middleweight champions in his most recent bouts.

No.7-ranked flyweight contender Steve Erceg fought No.4-ranked Kai Kara-France in the co-main event. Erceg started his UFC career with three straight wins and a razor-thin loss against champion Alexandre Pantoja in a title fight.

Being the more active fighter in recent years, Erceg had the momentum on his side as his opponent, Kara-France, was coming off a 15-month layoff and two straight losses. Unlike the main event, there was no animosity between the co-headliners but many felt that the fight could potentially be the most technical bout on the card.

After a few initial exchanges, the City Kickboxing standout dropped Erceg with a step-in left hook. While Erceg survived the knockdown and tried to create space, Kara-France shadowed him and knocked him down with an overhand right, prompting the referee to stop the action.

This was the 13th first-round finish of Kara-France's professional MMA career. He became the first fighter to finish Erceg by strikes.

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UFC 305 main card results: Dan Hooker edges past Mateusz Gamrot in instant classic, Carlos Prates dominates Li Jingliang

Lightweight contenders Mateusz Gamrot and Dan Hooker competed in one of the most interesting stylistic matchups of the card to further their quest for a UFC title shot.

Gamrot, the No.5-ranked lightweight contender heading into the fight, is regarded as one of the most skilled wrestlers in the division. Meanwhile, No.11-ranked Hooker brought an unorthodox striking arsenal and a proven ability to survive ugly battles to the table.

Despite being perceived as a striker vs. grappler contest, the fight was competitive in all areas. While Gamrot was able to secure several takedowns, Hooker did not absorb a lot of damage and successfully brought got back up.

Meanwhile, Gamrot clipped Hooker several times on the feet. However, the City Kickboxing standout was the aggressor and seemed to land the more impactful strikes. After three rounds of back-and-forth action, two judges scored the closely contested bout in Hooker's favor, declaring him the winner by split decision.

Top 15 heavyweights Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik competed on the main card to climb the rankings ladder. Despite being a fan-favorite fighter and a huge local star, Tuivasa was the fighter under pressure owing to his four-fight skid.

Rozenstruik, who appeared to have a broader skillset given his kickboxing background, refused to engage in a brawl that would probably favor Tuivasa and inflicted damage from the outside. While many felt the Surinamese fighter had done enough to get all three judges' nods, he got his hands raised by split decision.

China's Li Jingliang returned to competition after a two-year break to take on 'Dana White's Contender Series' standout Carlos Prates in the main card opening bout. Riding an impressive 11-fight win streak, Prates seemed to have a mental edge heading into the event.

Prates put on a striking clinic and even engaged in close-range striking with a dangerous finisher in Jingliang. He hurt the Chinese fighter several times in the opening frame before closing the show with a clobbering left hand in Round 2.

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UFC 305 preliminary card results: Joshua Culibao and Ricardo Ramos produce fierce battle

The preliminary card's headlining bout was a clash of heavyweights Junior Tafa and Valter Walker. Having lost their most recent fights, Tafa and Walker fought to get back in the win column. Walker, who was defensively vulnerable in the stand-up, took several stinging shots from the local favorite and took the fight to the ground.

Tafa appeared to be clueless about the techniques to get out from the bottom position and absorbed several ground strikes. Walker transitioned to a heel hook and Tafa shouted out loud after getting trapped. The referee took the shout as a verbal tapout and waved off the fight. Tafa protested the outcome and even went on to slap Walker after the fight to express his frustration. However, according to the Unified Rules of MMA, shouting is a form of verbal submission.

Elsewhere, featherweights Joshua Culibao and Ricardo Ramos produced a fierce battle. Both men had their moments in the fight and gave their best to walk away with a win. However, the judges scored the bout in Ramos' favor although Culibao seemed to have a significant advantage in terms of the number of strikes that landed. The only knockdown of the fight was also attributed to him. Meanwhile, Ramos finished strong after taking down Culibao in Round 3.

Women's flyweight contender Casey O'Neill got back in the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Luana Santos on the preliminary card. O'Neill lost her last two fights, against Jennifer Maia and Arianne Lipski, and needed the win to continue chasing UFC glory.

Jack Jenkins, who was one of the biggest favorites on the card, appeared to be outclassing Herbert Burns in the preliminary card opening bout. Burns utilized his Brazilian jiu-jitsu background effectively to make the fight competitive. However, he could not stop Jenkins from imposing his will in the stand-up and succumbed to a TKO in the opening minute of Round 3.

Tom Nolan and Song Kenan defeated Alex Reyes and Rick Glenn, respectively, by unanimous decision in the early prelims.

Jesus Aguilar welcomed Australia's Stewart Nicoll to the UFC in the first fight of the night. Undefeated Nicoll appeared to be dominating in the striking and wrestling departments until a grappling exchange resulted in Aguilar trapping him in a tight guillotine choke from the bottom.

Nicoll passed out after trying for a few seconds and Aguillar informed the referee that he was out. The referee stopped the action as Aguilar lifted his opponent's legs to increase the blood flow to his head to help him regain consciousness.

Check out the full event results below:

Main card

Middleweight - Dricus du Plessis def. Israel Adesanya by submission (Rear-naked choke) (R4, 3:38) (Middleweight title fight)

Flyweight - Kai Kara-France def. Steve Erceg by KO (R1, 4:04)

Lightweight - Dan Hooker def. Mateusz Gamrot by split decision (29-28 X 2, 28-29)

Heavyweight- Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Tai Tuivasa by split decision (30-27, 29-28, 27-30)

Welterweight - Carlos Prates def. Li Jingliang by KO (R2, 4:02)

Preliminary card

Heavyweight - Valter Walker def. Junior Tafa by technical submission (R1, 4:56)

Featherweight - Ricardo Ramos def. Joshua Culibao by split decision (29-28 X 2, 28-29)

Women's flyweight - Casey O'Neill def. Luana Santos by unanimous decision (30-27 X 2, 30-26)

Featherweight - Jack Jenkins def. Herbert Burns by TKO (R3, 0:48)

Early prelims

Lightweight - Tom Nolan def. Alex Reyes by unanimous decision (30-27 X 2, 29-28)

Welterweight - Song Kenan def. Rick Glenn by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-28)

Flyweight - Jesus Aguilar def. Stewart Nicoll by submission (Rear-naked choke) (R1, 2:39) (Aguillar missed weight by 1.5 pounds)