The sun hadn’t yet risen by the time a sold out RAC Arena in Perth welcomed Aussie MMA fans eager to watch a stacked UFC 305 unfold. It certainly delivered, with the event trading nail-biting decisions for highlight reel finishes.
On the prelims, Australians Tom Nolan, Casey O’Neill and Jack Jenkins all took away dominant victories. Jenkins in particular put in the performance of a lifetime after returning from injury, completely shutting down Herbert Burns with leg kicks. With Jenkins renowned for his ability to break legs with the devastating strike, it was no surprise that the Brazilian chose to stay down 48 seconds into Round 3. Jenkins is now targeting his originally scheduled opponent, Canadian Gavin Tucker, for the Edmonton card in November.
Brazilian Carlos Prates made a statement in his UFC PPV debut, winning his 10th straight fight and a cool $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus against China’s Li Jingliang. The Muay Thai fighter sat Jingliang down in the 2nd round before tagging him with a right and left hook that left ‘The Leech’ unconscious. This was the ever-resilient Jingliang’s first ever knockout loss, a testament to Prates’ sheer power and precision.
Fun-loving heavyweight Tai Tuivasa entered the RAC Arena to P!nk – Raise Your Glass looking to break his 4-fight losing streak. Unfortunately the Western Sydney-sider wouldn’t be raising his glass, or shoe, by night’s end as he was heavily out-numbered in significant strikes by his Surinamese opponent Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Despite the stats, and screen, showing the one-sided nature of the fight, judge Howie Booth shockingly landed on a 30-27 score to Tuivasa, which gave him the rest of the day off as commentator Jon Anik soon reported that Booth had been relieved of his duties for the afternoon.
Fight of the Night honours clearly went to the Dan Hooker vs. Mateusz Gamrot bout, with New Zealand’s Hooker picking up his 3rdstraight victory. The 5th ranked Gamrot came in the heavy favourite and started hot, splitting Hooker’s eye early but learnt very quickly that it’s never a night off when you’re facing Dan Hooker. It wasn’t long until his wrestling barrage was neutralised and met with relentless pressure on the feet from a man who seemed to be having the time of his life. At one point after the second round, Hooker was filmed laughing and telling his corner “Boys, I love this shit”. Gamrot looked increasingly more uncomfortable as the fight wore on; a rare sight for the Polish grappler; eventually losing to a split decision.
His moniker warned you not to blink and in the co-main event, Auckland’s Kai Kara-France silenced every doubter as a strong overhand left put Perth rising star Steve Erceg down before a swift barrage ended it convincingly. This added to Kara-France’s 12 first-round TKOs, an unusual accolade for a flyweight, but as stated in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier “it’s because I’m Maoribro!” Kara-France is now targeting Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja whom he last faced in a losing effort during the 2016 season of The Ultimate Fighter.
With elements of continental pride, a volcanic rivalry and the highest of stakes, the Middleweight Championship main event between South African born-and-raised Dricus Du Plessis and Nigerian native Israel Adesanya, had all the makings of one of the most anticipated fights in recent memory. They say ‘styles make fights’ and this matchup certainly brought the element of uncertainty as DDP’s aggressive and unorthodox approach was set to combat the pin-point accuracy of renowned kickboxer, Adesanya.
There was plenty of trading back-and-forth with neither man able to put the other on the backfoot for too long. Du Plessis started to look fatigued mid-way though the fight but landed a flurry that put Adesanya down. From there, DDP was able to systematically take his rival’s back and lock in a rear naked choke for the submission victory at 3:38 of Round 4; a first-ever submission loss for the former champ.
Despite heated origins, both fighters were able to put their feud aside and show the other a measure of respect with DDP even gifting his foe a jacket in the media room after the event had concluded. Du Plessis is now 8-0 in the UFC and can expect a likely rematch with the man he narrowly defeated for the Middleweight Championship, Sean Strickland.
By Andrew Baggio
Photos by Shotweiler Photography
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