January 20, 2024; Toronto, Canada, USA; Dricus Du Plessis (blue gloves) celebrates defeating Sean Strickland (pink gloves) at UFC 297 at Scotiabank Enviornment. Necessary Credit score: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports activities Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis notched a shocking victory and profitable protection of his title at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia on Saturday night time, leaving the No. 2 contender Israel Adesanya was knocked out within the fourth spherical.
In a much-anticipated major occasion, Adesanya – a former champion competing for the primary time since final September – took two of the primary three rounds on one scorecard, whereas the opposite Two referees believed that Du Plessis led 2-1 on this spherical.
However with a bit of greater than a minute and a half left within the fourth quarter, South Africa’s Du Plessis landed three consecutive proper punches that despatched Adesanya stumbling contained in the Octagon. Du Plessis then took Adesanya to the mat, jumped on his again and choked his opponent.
Adesanya was eradicated with 1:22 left within the spherical.
That is the primary time Du Plessis has efficiently defended his title. The 30-year-old participant’s profession file has improved to 22 wins, 2 attracts and 0 losses. Adesanya now has an general file of 24-4-0.
Within the co-main occasion, Kai Kara-France made a degree of returning to flyweight, ending a protracted profession with a shocking first-round knockout over Steve Erceg. A suspension of 14.5 months. With 1:10 left within the spherical, Kara-France despatched Ercheg to the mat with an overhand left. Erceg was again on his toes inside seconds, however Kara-France refused to let up, and with 59 seconds left, Erceg fell to the bottom once more. The referee instantly took motion and ended the sport with 56 seconds left.
Kara-France (25-11-0) final received a battle on March 26, 2022, defeating Askar Askarov by way of unanimous resolution. From that recreation by Saturday night time, he was 0-2.
Whereas Adesanya-DePlessis was the headliner, maybe no fighter had a extra memorable night time than welterweight Carlos Prates. The UFC rookie scored a historic victory in his third battle for the promotion, bettering his UFC file to 3-0.
The Dana White Contenders veteran turned the primary to knock out veteran Li Jingliang, knocking out the Chinese language fighter in only one minute of the second spherical. Jingliang was surprised by a flurry of blows from Brazil’s Plates, who slowly defended in opposition to the fence earlier than ending the job with a left hook.
Jing Liang has been preventing solely within the UFC for 10 years, and his general profession file has dropped to 19 wins, 9 attracts and 0 losses.
Different outcomes for the primary card:
**Light-weight: Dan Hooker def. Mateusz Gamrot, cut up resolution (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
** Heavyweight: Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Tai Tuivasa, cut up resolution (29-28, 27-30, 30-27)
–Scene-level media
