Du Plessis shoots wild title fight Down Under

Top-class finale at UFC 305
Du Plessis shoots wild title fight Down Under

Who is the middleweight king and who is the true African? Reigning champion Du Plessis and challenger Adesanya wanted to clarify these questions at UFC 305. The evening comes to a conciliatory end – even if some fights surprise with controversial points decisions.

Martial arts fans witnessed a true title fight at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia. South African champion Dricus Du Plessis (21 wins, 2 losses) put his middleweight belt on the line against former titleholder Israel Adesanya (24-3). Beforehand, both opponents argued about who the real African was, as the New Zealander Adesanya has Nigerian roots and also sails under the Nigerian flag. The fight should be much more high-class and exciting than the feud over the origins of the two protagonists.

Adesanya immediately found his good feeling for the distance in round one. Many of the champion's leg kicks and punch combinations initially went nowhere. The New Zealander, on the other hand, landed kicks and punches to the body. However, Du Plessis' stormy advances got better towards the end of the round, with one hand out of the three- and four-stroke combinations usually ending up on the target. The second round started wildly: Du Plessis grabbed Adesanya during a kick attempt and wrestled him to the ground. He attempted a stranglehold twice, and twice the former champ cleverly turned away and shifted the fight back to standing. Du Plessis stayed true to his line and pressed Adesanya against the cage fence. He controlled what was happening without causing any real damage. The wrestling cost Du Plessis a lot of energy.

The South African seemed correspondingly slow in round three. “Izzy” Adesanya was much more flexible in his movements and found better angles for punch combinations. Du Plessis also used uppercuts through the cover and punches to the body, but he remained dangerous with wild swings. Especially when it came to hitting frequency, he couldn't keep up with Adesanya. Everything looked as if the New Zealander could regain his title.

A fatal mistake then led to the decision in an exciting fight. A powerful left hook from Du Plessis shook “Izzy”. When the 35-year-old shifted into reverse, he turned his back slightly to his opponent while Du Plessis went after him. He didn't see the South African's two powerful hooks coming and fell to the ground. Here the champion took control and applied a stranglehold – which ultimately forced Adesanya to give up.

Both opponents hugged each other after the fight, exchanged a few words and paid respect to each other. Du Plessis said after the fight that he never wanted to put the duel at the level of origin. “Africa won that night anyway. But it was an honor for me to face this man in the Octagon. I don't want to be kicked by him again. Izzy, if you decide to end your career today – Thanks!” Adesanya subsequently said that he wanted to move on and was “not going anywhere.”

Don't blink at Kara-France

The second main fight of the evening should come to an end much quicker. Kai Kara-France (24-11) already had his chance for the interim flyweight title, Steve Erceg (12-2) recently even challenged champion Alex Pantoja – and narrowly lost on points. The duel between the New Zealander and the Australian should therefore be a new attempt at the title opportunity for one of the two fighters. Both cage fighters felt each other out for several minutes before Kara-France found his rhythm and lived up to his nickname “Don't Blink.”

He used the combination of feint-one-two several times in the fight, on the fourth attempt Erceg's guard was down and Kara-France hit right on the chin. The Australian fell to the ground, but was able to get back up quickly. However, pressed against the cage, the New Zealander landed a clean right straight that sent Erceg to the ground again. The referee intervened and the fight was decided. “That was the statement win I wanted,” said Kara-France after the fight. Now he wants to fight for the title.

Hooker climbs into the top five

Both Mateusz Gamrot (24-2, 1 NC) and Dan Hooker (23-12) wanted to position themselves for a lightweight title fight with a win. It would be the fourth win in a row for the Australian Hooker. Both fighters refrained from tactics and the Pole in particular relied on striking. With this he surprised Hooker and gave him some strong hooks that opened several cuts on his opponent. Hooker also had some good punch combinations in this round, but Gamrot reversed in time or kept his guard up.

However, he wasn't able to do that so well in round two. Here Hooker was more active. He shook his opponent vigorously with several swings, threw in body kicks and put the Pole in trouble. Gamrot then tried to move the fight to the ground, clinging to the Australian's legs. This saved him from serious damage, but may have cost him the round in points.

In the third round, Gamrot's plan worked better. The balance between striking and takedowns was right here. The Pole had Hooker on the ground for a while, but also landed clean hits. His opponent did hit, but with slightly less frequency. After three rounds, the judges had a difficult decision to make and, somewhat surprisingly, decided in favor of Dan Hooker. “You go into the fight and at the end you raise your hand in victory. That's all that counts,” said Hooker in the post-fight interview. “I want a title eliminator, the BMF title and Conor McGregor. I want everything,” he then bellowed into the microphone.