Dricus du Plessis defiantly embraced the chaos and emerged stronger for the experience to make a successful first UFC middleweight title defence against longtime champion Israel Adesanya in the early hours Sunday, inflicting another career-altering defeat as the 185lb division has shaken up once more.
du Plessis finally gets his due
R4, 3:38 – Dricus du Plessis (c) bt. Israel Adesanya via submission (face crank)
- Fine margins! Adesanya outstruck du Plessis 105-99 in total strikes landed and 97-90 in significant strikes at the time of the stoppage, but trailed on two of the three judges’ scorecards heading into the fourth. du Plessis becomes the first man to submit 35-year-old in 12-year MMA career
- DU PLESSIS: “I knew if I was in trouble fighting one of the greatest strikers ever in this division, I need the takedown – he’s the king of getting back up – got a few good ones and had to work harder, but ultimately this fight was won on the feet. I don’t care about who’s next, just wanna hear and still!”
- ADESANYA: “I already knew about his toughness, I felt strong and able to resist takedowns but made a stupid mistake on the ground, he adjusted to get me. I’m disappointed but also proud, this was the best I’ve ever felt, just had a better man on the night so respect. I’m not fucking leaving!”
- Why not? du Plessis has responded to Alex Pereira’s post-fight declaration by showing a readiness to face Alex Pereira at 205lbs, should Poatan prevail as expected against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 on October 5
DRICUS du Plessis’ style is unorthodox, looks sloppy at times and erratic elsewhere but those tireless tactics are effective at the championship level and he reminded everyone of that with a fourth-round submission win over former champ Israel Adesanya in their UFC 305 pay-per-view main event from Perth, Australia on Sunday.
Having beaten longtime contender Derek Brunson via second-round TKO in March 2023, the South African has reeled off a trio of excellent resume-building wins at the elite level in a division constantly in flux without many clear new contenders.
Former champion Robert Whittaker was startingly stopped midway through round two of their title eliminator last July, before Sean Strickland lost his title via split decision on the cards after a gruelling 25-minute battle to kick off 2024 in Toronto.
Perhaps the most frustrating takeaway is, we didn’t get du Plessis vs. Adesanya when heat between them was at its highest point last summer. The promotion hoped their newly-inserted no. 1 contender would risk injury for a shorter fight camp to headline against one of their stars in Australia — Strickland answered the call.
Not only did he humanise Adesanya differently to Jan Blachowicz and Alex Pereira had before him, but the Philly shell boxing stance utilised against Israel exposed some technical deficiencies – whether he overlooked him or not – and they again were on display here, against someone with better kickboxing skills to boot.
Couple that with an ability to mix the martial arts (10 submission wins from 21 wins before this past weekend), and well, that’s a disastrous combination which unfolded without warning in a round where du Plessis looked weary, until he certainly wasn’t.
Round-by-round debrief
R1: du Plessis 22-16 (Adesanya had 43% sig strike success, DDP 42%)
R2: Adesanya 17-13, du Plessis had three takedowns and 3:28 control time
R3: Adesanya 40-31 (48-41%)
R4: 24-24 each, du Plessis more accurate (53% to 45%) before finish
It felt pointed that, moments after Adesanya rejected any retirement talk post-fight, former two-weight world champion-turned-commentator Daniel Cormier said: “Don’t stay gone for a year again, my friend,” in the cage.
Therein lies the problem, where does he go now? Adesanya has clearly worked on improving his defensive grappling and offensive wrestling skills, but would still prefer to do neither in most situations.
As someone who, alongside Whittaker, had essentially cleared out the division of any true contenders across nearly half-a-decade, can you imagine him truly getting motivated for a fight against #4 ranked Nassourdine Imavov for example?
Or one of several rematch options at 185lbs – Whittaker, Jared Cannonier, Marvin Vettori, Paulo Costa? The easy answer is a fresh matchup with Khamzat Chimaev, assumimg Borz gets through his proposed October 26 date against Whittaker and is healthy enough for a relatively smooth turnaround in the first quarter of 2025.
As for du Plessis, a Strickland rematch appears next and on the surface, is a feasible option as he’ll look to silence any doubt over their disputed first fight back eight months ago. Imavov might sit at #4 but doesn’t have a marquee win and faces Brendan Allen on Sept. 28, so still appears two fights away from title contention.
Solving the Pereira puzzle, whether at 205lbs or middleweight, is always an intriguing option to explore at some stage next year as Poatan‘s maximising his prime years now with the sort of refreshing activity you wish more champions would adopt.
Speaking of champions… #4 ranked Kai Kara-France has called for a rematch with flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja, after an emphatic first-round finish over Steve Erceg – who won the 125lb sweepstakes to challenge for gold earlier this year.
Besides Adesanya it was a successful night for the CKB team as Dan Hooker exemplified why he’s a fan favourite, rallying from early adversity to outwork Mateusz Gamrot. He could face #2 ranked former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira next, after the longtime contender – now 34 – edged beyond the Pole in a bloody battle.
Contender Series graduate Carlos Prates kicked off the main card with an emphatic finish at welterweight against Li Jingliang, while Casey O’Neill logged her first win in two-and-a-half years after going the distance with surging hopeful Luana Santos.
Full card results
Main card
Middleweight: Dricus du Plessis (c) bt. Israel Adesanya via R4 submission (face crank)
Flyweight: Kai Kara-France [4] bt. Steve Erceg [7] via R1 TKO (punches)
Lightweight: Dan Hooker [11] bt. Mateusz Gamrot [5] via split (28-29, 29-28 x 2)
Heavyweight: Jairzinho Rozenstruik [12] bt. Tai Tuivasa [10] via split (29-28, 27-30, 30-27)
Welterweight: Carlos Prates bt. Li Jingliang via R2 KO (punch)
Prelims
Heavyweight: Valter Walker bt. Junior Tafa via R1 submission (heel hook)
Featherweight: Ricardo Ramos bt. Joshua Culibao via split (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Women’s flyweight: Casey O’Neill [15] bt. Luana Santos via UD3 (30-27 x 2, 30-26)
Featherweight: Jack Jenkins bt. Herbert Burns via R3 TKO (right hook, ground strikes)
Early prelims
Lightweight: Tom Nolan bt. Alex Reyes via UD3 (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
Welterweight: Song Kenan bt. Ricky Glenn via UD3 (30-27, 30-26, 29-28)
Catchweight (127.5lbs): Jesus Santos Aguilar bt. Stewart Nicoll via R1 sub (guillotine choke)
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via UFC broadcast
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