Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen doesn’t think it’s wise for Dricus Du Plessis to rile Israel Adesanya up ahead of their championship clash Down Under this weekend. Du Plessis will defend his middleweight belt for the first time since winning it from Sean Strickland when he makes the walk to headline the UFC 305 […]
Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen doesn’t think it’s wise for Dricus Du Plessis to rile Israel Adesanya up ahead of their championship clash Down Under this weekend.
An early Octagon interview also saw Du Plessis use the term “real African,” which rubbed the likes of Adesanya and Kamaru Usman the wrong way.
With that in mind, there appears to be a personal element to the bout for the Nigerian-New Zealander. And one ex-fighter thinks that’s a dangerous scenario for the champ…
Sonnen On Adesanya’s UFC 305 Return: ‘When He Has Something Personal…’
In terms of the bad blood that appears to be fueling the animosity between the pair of headliners, “The American Gangster” thinks Adesanya now has the one element that was missing from his last UFC fight.
“It’s wildly important that our viewers understand what these guys are fighting for,” Sonnen said. “Israel Adesanya has done his finest work when it’s personal. As a matter of fact, the worst performance he’s put forward was against Sean Strickland, and the only thing that was missing was a personal feud. He didn’t have a problem with Sean when that fight happened. He wasn’t really looking at Sean. … When that fight was over, Dana wanted to do a rematch; in fact he offered Izzy an immediate rematch. He said no. He just never had heat with Sean.
“When he has something personal — excuse me, he called out Yoel Romero. You know how crazy that is? … It was personal. He told Dana, ‘Hey man, I got into this business because there’s guys that I want to fight…I don’t care what Yoel’s record is.’ That’s why this is so important,” Sonnen continued. “They didn’t just throw a belt out there…didn’t just dangle some pay-per-view points. The belt has nothing to do with it on Izzy’s side. And I will just contend for you, he does his final work when it’s personal.”
Having stated that he’s returning to competition to “take heads” instead of with any focus on the gold, Adesanya will hope to start by beheading the reigning middleweight kingpin come fight night in Australia.
And should he settle that grudge successfully by having his hand raised, perhaps he’d next turn his gaze back to Strickland and redemption against his fellow former champ.
Following the main event of UFC 305, Alex Pereira kickstarted talks of a champion vs champion clash with a post on social media. Dricus Du Plessis was able to defend his middleweight title this past weekend by submitting Israel Adesanya in the fourth round. Though he would appear to be facing Sean Strickland in a […]
Du Plessis has been underrated for a lot of his UFC career but being able to add Pereira to his record but would be a massive moment for “Stillknocks”.
Eric Nicksick Says Alex Pereira’s Counter-Striking Would Be A Big Problem For Dricus Du Plessis
Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick gave his thoughts on how that potential fight could play out during a recent interview with Submission Radio.
Nicksick has spent a long time breaking down Du Plessis’ unorthodox movement, timing and technique due to him being Strickland’s head coach.
He believes that unlike Adesanya and Strickland, Pereira presents a huge problem to the middleweight champion because of his accuracy and power.
Many have highlighted in the past how Du Plessis does leave himself open to taking damage even if his aggressive style is incredibly effective.
This is where Nicksick believes that you can’t afford to leave any gaps for “Poatan” to capitalize on, using Pereira’s fights against the incredibly dangerous and unpredictable Ji?í Procházka to illustrate his point.
“So comparison wise, think about what Alex Pereira would do to a guy like Ji?í Procházka and Ji?í’s very similar to Dricus in the erratic behaviour of the way he throws his punches. I think Ji?í is more of a feel fighter where he’s not putting predisposed combinations in his head off of these types of reads, he’s just kind of throwing. Whereas Dricus is throwing these things but he’s also leaving his hands behind in certain positions right, like if he’s hitting that switch cross or switch overhand, it’s like one hand’s in the pocket, the other hand’s in the pocket when he’s throwing that looping overhand.
“That’s where I think Alex Pereira is elite. I think he sees the holes in the defense so Dricus kind of hits those a couple times and Alex catches that timing, that’s where his counter striking is so great. I think that’s where Dricus will have problems. I don’t think you can have that same type of approach as many times as he did against Izzy as he could against Alex Pereira. It’s like that using the same pickup line at the bar with the same girl over and over and over and finally she’s like, ‘Fine, here, f*** it, here’s my number’. But after a while, you’re like dude, this is not going to work but then all of a sudden it works.”
Both men appeared to take round one to feel each other out and get their striking going. Adesanya landed strong starts early but appeared to get caught by Du Plessis later in the round. Du Plessis changed his gameplan in the second and looked for takedowns quickly, scoring multiple takedowns and fighting against wizzers from […]
Both men appeared to take round one to feel each other out and get their striking going. Adesanya landed strong starts early but appeared to get caught by Du Plessis later in the round.
Du Plessis changed his gameplan in the second and looked for takedowns quickly, scoring multiple takedowns and fighting against wizzers from Adesanya. Du Plessis threatened a choke on more than one occasion. Adesanya appeared to get some sort of knockdown off a punch, but Du Plessis fell into him, knocking Adesanya down and allowing Du Plessis to get back into grappling control against the fence.
Both men had their moments during the third round, with Adesanya rocking Du Plessis with a spinning back elbow, and Du Plessis stunning him with combinations. But the New Zealander was landing more on the feet, with his work to Du Plessis’ body of note.
Adesanya continued to get the better of Du Plessis on the feet and troubled him in the fourth. That is, until Du Plessis blitzed back, getting to Adesanya’s back and bringing him back to the ground. There, Du Plessis finally locked in the same rear-naked choke he looked for in the second round and scored the submission.
Following the fight, Du Plessis gave respect to Adesanya, squashing their beef.
Meanwhile, despite the assumption a rematch between DDP and Sean Strickland will be next, and Alex Pereira defending the light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree in October, Pereira took to social media to tease a move back down to 185 to challenge Du Plessis.
Dricus Du Plessis Submits Israel Adesanya To Remain Middleweight Champion
Respect to DDP for the apology. Great fight both guys
Du Plessis and Adesanya had a heated confrontation following UFC 290, where Du Plessis knocked out Robert Whittaker to earn a future title shot.
Du Plessis entered tonight with a nine-fight win streak, having not lost since dropping the KSW welterweight title in October 2018. Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January to win the UFC middleweight title.
This marked Adesanya’s first fight since his heavy upset loss to Strickland at UFC 293, losing the middleweight championship after regaining it from Alex Pereira at UFC 287. Adesanya had previously won the belt with a knockout of Whittaker at UFC 243 in October 2019, successfully defending the title five times before dropping it to Pereira at UFC 281.
Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman recently took on the role of matchmakers, speculating on Israel Adesanya’s next move following his defeat to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305. “The Last Stylebender” succumbed to a fourth-round submission loss against the reigning UFC middleweight champion in his quest to reclaim the title for a third time last […]
Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman recently took on the role of matchmakers, speculating on Israel Adesanya’s next move following his defeat to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305.
Although Adesanya showcased sharp striking and strong defensive wrestling in a highly competitive fight, Du Plessis turned the tide in the fourth round with a relentless barrage of punches that left the Nigerian-born Kiwi staggered. With great presence of mind, “Stillknocks” swiftly secured a takedown and moved in to seal the deal with a rear-naked choke.
Following the defeat, a fleeting moment in the Octagon hinted that Adesanya might be contemplating retirement. As he removed his gloves, fans held their breath, thinking he was about to make an announcement during his post-fight interview with UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier. However, it turned out that Adesanya’s gesture was merely a false alarm, with no real intention behind it.
Now, after suffering the first submission loss of his career and enduring back-to-back defeats, “The Last Stylebender” finds himself at a pivotal crossroads. To reclaim his place in the title picture, he’ll need to embark on a challenging climb back to the top.
Cejudo and Usman have pinpointed several middleweight contenders they believe would make compelling matchups for Adesanya’s next fight…
Cejudo and Usman Split On Adesanya’s Next Possible Opponent
During a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Cejudo and Usman weighed in on who might be the ideal next opponent for Adesanya. “Triple C” proposed that the former middleweight champion should square off against Paulo Costa in a rematch, viewing it as a quick path back to title contention. Cejudo believes this matchup could position Adesanya for a shot at the winner of the anticipated Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland title fight.
“If I’m Israel Adesanya, I’m looking to fight a troll in Paulo ‘Borrachinha’ too, you know, do a rematch with ‘Mr. Secret Juice’—a winnable fight for him,” Cejudo said. “Then he just waits, sees, and hopes that a guy like Sean Strickland wins, and then boom, he’s at the title once again.”
Usman, however, took a different stance, questioning why Adesanya would bother facing Costa again when he’s already bested him. “The Nigerian Nightmare” instead argued that instead of revisiting old ground, Izzy should set his sights on new challenges.
“Why would we go ‘Borrachinha’?” Usman said. “He’s lost to Israel Adesanya, lost to Sean Strickland, lost to Robert Whittaker. Why would we go to ‘Borrachinha’? Give him new blood, give him something that’s going to be intriguing. And there are intriguing fights right now. You’ve got the French dude [Nassourdine] Imavov—that is going to be a fantastic fight. You’ve got Khamzat Chimaev, which was the buildup for potentially that middleweight title picture when Israel was champion.
“Those are fantastic fights, those are huge, and those are amazing fights where I actually think you can’t say that’s not a good fight. Because we’ve had this debate before, and we both agree—what happens when Israel Adesanya gets back up from Khamzat Chimaev? What happens when he’s able to not get taken down, stand there, and start to sharpshoot? We’ve had that debate before, and I like his chances.”
UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis had nothing but kind words for the parents of defeated opponent Israel Adesanya this past weekend. The pair appeared to have one of the more heated rivalries seen on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage this year, centered around Du Plessis’ controversial remarks last year about becoming the first Africa-residing […]
UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis had nothing but kind words for the parents of defeated opponent Israel Adesanya this past weekend.
The pair appeared to have one of the more heated rivalries seen on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage this year, centered around Du Plessis’ controversial remarks last year about becoming the first Africa-residing champion.
The two rivals quickly patched things up inside the Octagon, showing immense respect for one another following an enthralling and competitive headliner. And that trend continued backstage at the RAC Arena, where the families of both fighters embraced.
Du Plessis, Adesanya Families Enjoy Respectful Interaction Post-Fight
Footage captured by MMA Junkie soon after UFC 305 showed Du Plessis and Adesanya catching up behind the scenes, with the champ gifting the Nigerian-born New Zealander a custom-made, South Africa-themed jacket.
While Adesanya shared some words with his victorious opponent’s family and coach, Du Plessis interacted with the former two-time titleholder’s parents, thanking both for “raising a warrior.”
Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya share an incredible backstage moment after #UFC305 and embrace each other families. pic.twitter.com/Dsu7btTZyV
“You have an incredible son,” Du Plessis said at one point during the interaction.
During his post-fight press conference, the champ opened up on his brief conversation with Adesanya’s family and the gift he had prepared for his challenger.
“I will never disrespect your parents, and he said he understands that,” Du Plessis said. “We’re not friends because on a personal level, we do not see eye-to-eye. But warrior-to-warrior, and after spending time (with him) in that octagon and what he’s achieved in the sport, you can’t not respect that man.
“To give him that jacket was a reminder, a token of appreciation and a thank you for this,” Du Plessis continued. “It’s a memory for me, it’s such a massive moment in my life. I brought the jacket here specifically to give it to him.”
On Saturday night, the mixed martial arts leader returned for its latest pay-per-view event, UFC 305. For the first time this year, the UFC was Down Under this week, where Perth’s RAC Arena played host to the promotion’s latest Australian show. And the promotion brought with it across the globe a notable lineup that included a title […]
On Saturday night, the mixed martial arts leader returned for its latest pay-per-view event, UFC 305.
For the first time this year, the UFC was Down Under this week, where Perth’s RAC Arena played host to the promotion’s latest Australian show. And the promotion brought with it across the globe a notable lineup that included a title fight and a host of intriguing undercard scraps.
The championship clash at the top of the billing saw Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya’s heated feud finally reach the the Octagon, with the South African’s middleweight belt on the line seven months on from his crowning at the expense of Sean Strickland in “The Great White North.”
Elsewhere, former flyweight title challengers Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg looked to stake their claims for a second shot at UFC gold in the co-main event, while Oceanic fan favorites Dan Hooker and Tai Tuivasa also hoped to deliver standout triumphs on the main card.
But did all those names come together to put on an entertaining night of fights? Let’s find out with all the positives and negatives from UFC 305.
Jesus Aguilar has two hobbies (among other things, I’m sure. Perhaps he’s partial to some ballroom dancing. Who knows?) — fighting Australians and locking in guillotine chokes. Combining them must have been like Christmas at UFC 305.
The Mexican entered the cage as an underdog for the first fight of the night in Perth, which many expected to be a coming out party for Australia’s newest hot prospect, the previously undefeated Stewart Nicoll.
But the 29-year-old fell to the same fate as his fellow countryman Shannon Ross did at UFC 290 in July 2023 — being left unconscious in the very first round.
In Las Vegas last year, Ross was absolutely obliterated on the feet by Aguilar in just 17 seconds in one of 2023’s most brutal knockouts. Nicoll’s demise came on the ground when he had his strong start rendered null after getting caught in Aguilar’s favorite submission move. The Mexican was, indeed, not silly. When the opportunity presented itself, he jumped the gilly and put Nicoll out — not that anybody bar Aguilar actually noticed.
That left a scary visual of the Aussie wide-eyed as his sleeping body fell back. On another note, could the referee not have maybe caught his head as it thundered onto the canvas? It feels like we regularly see superhero saves from officials in Muay Thai fights over in Asia, but on this occasion, it looked like the ref practically dodged Nicoll’s head.
Regardless, the finish was incredibly impressive from Aguilar, who now has five guillotines out of his six fight-ending chokes.
Accept a bout with Aguilar at your peril, Australian flyweights!
Negative – What One Burns Can Do, The Other Burns… Well, Can’t
With the watering down of the UFC product, there’s been quite a few instances of fighters entering the cage this year who simply aren’t of a sufficient quality to be competing on the sport’s biggest stage.
Herbert Burns, however, is a veteran of that group.
It’s fascinating to watch back Burns’ knockout of Nate Landwehr in 2020. I try not to buy into ‘fluke’ narratives, but that is a compelling one. Since then, the Brazilian has lost four straight by TKO, two of which have been the same type of retirement.
Against both Bill Algeo in 2022 and Jack Jenkins on Saturday night, “The Blaze” — an apt moniker for someone whose UFC career has gone up in smoke — responded to adversity by attempting to pull guard and collapsing to his back when desperation takedowns failed.
After a while of doing so in both instances, Keith Peterson and Marc Goddard waved the bouts off. With the memory of the Algeo fight growing ever clearer as Burns’ UFC 305 bout played out, I remarked to colleagues, “He’ll do it (fall to his back) enough times until Goddard stops it.” Like clockwork.
You know it’s bad when your brother’s own podcast is flaming you on social media, before hastily deleting…
Of course, credit has to go to Jenkins for his performance on home soil. Regardless of the opposition level, “Phar” looked on it in the striking realm. But his crisp boxing wasn’t enough to override the negative that is Burns’ latest disastrous display inside the Octagon.
Negative – A Mess
Well, the UFC 305 featured prelim when swimmingly, didn’t it?
The fight’s conclusion came after the Brazilian clutched onto his Aussie counterpart’s leg and locked in a heel hook. Things suddenly came to an end, with replays showing that Tafa had yelled out in pain. That stoppage ended up being controversial, not because it was wrong, but because the sport’s leading promotion employs commentators who don’t know the ruleset of what they’re tasked with describing to a global audience.
It’s remarkable to say, but we had two legendary former champions, Daniel Cormier and Dominick Cruz, questioning the third man inside the cage. The latter — who never shies away from using his agenda against Keith Peterson to slam referees — even went as far as to group the moment with instances of fighters having their chance to compete cruelly taken away.
Guys…Read. The. Rules.
Verbal tap out: When a contestant verbally announces to the referee that he or she does not wish to continue or makes audible sounds such as screams indicating pain or discomfort.
The fact we had to sit through five minutes of doubting the referee’s decision before texts from those better informed arrived to save the day is yet further evidence as to why Laura Sanko needs to be a permanent fixture on the commentary desk.
#UFC305 Official Result: Valter Walker defeats Junior Tafa by Technical Submission at 4:56 in Round 1.
An unhappy Tafa responded by butting heads with Walker before slapping him. The UFC has been pretty inconsistent when it comes with dealing with similar instances — Khabib Nurmagomedov continued his title reign post-instigating the UFC 229 brawl, while Paul Daley was cut and forever ousted from the promotion for his sucker punch against Josh Koscheck at UFC 113.
What happens next in the career of Tafa remains to be seen, but a release shouldn’t be out of the question.
Positive – Nightmare? I’ll Say
The welterweight division always seems to have one major prospect establishing himself as one to watch, with recent years seeing Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Garry following successful arrivals with climbs into title contention.
All signs point toward Carlos Prates joining them soon enough.
There aren’t enough superlatives to do justice to the Brazilian’s performance. He became the first man to knock out Li Jingliang, but his display was by no means defined by a sudden fight-ending sequence. Prates frankly beat “The Leech” up for the best part of nine minutes.
That’s evidently what it was going to take to get the returning Chinese fighter out of there — soften up what’s long been an iron chin with knockdown after knockdown, before uncorking one of the most clubbing hooks in recent memory to finish the job.
Add Prates to the list of, “Oh, he’s on the card? Hell yeah,” fighters in the UFC.
Considering I’m often leaping to the defense of judges, who frequently come under fire from individuals with no concept of how mixed martial arts fights are scored, it feels good to be able to grab a pitchfork this time around.
“Bigi Boy” was clinical with his performance, piecing Tuivasa up while avoiding virtually all of the home favorite’s power shots. Judge Howie Booth, however, must have gotten the red and blue corners confused because it’s hard to see any other explanation for his work at UFC 305.
Thankfully, he was relieved from his duties for the rest of the night (not that it mattered anyway given how the co-main event finished…more on that soon). But, to be honest, that scorecard is so bad that Howie probably shouldn’t be with scorecard in hand ever again.
Even hours later, I’m still trying to recall a scorecard that even comes close. Chris Lee’s 48-47 in favor of Paul Felder over Rafael dos Anjos, perhaps?
It’s 2024 and Dan Hooker is in the lightweight top five (or at least should be come next week’s update). Redemption arcs don’t come much better than that.
Hooker entered the cage at UFC 305 with an almighty task ahead of him, getting his wish to feature on the card granted in the form of a showdown with the highly regarded Mateusz Gamrot. Be it odds, fans, or analysts, basically every metric had “The Hangman” falling short to the smothering grappling of “Gamer.”
Round one saw both men exchange knockdowns, before the second frame was more a tail of the Polish fighter’s control versus Hooker’s strikes while defending Gamrot’s wrestling. And the concluding stanza was just a war that can be summed up by two-and-a-half minutes of striking success each.
Judge that.
Two cageside scorers ultimately leant the way of “The Hangman,” and with that he’s rendered the 1-4 run he entered UFC 281 in 2022 riding a distance memory. And with three straight wins and a triumph over a name like Gamrot, he is well and truly back in the mix.
If Dustin Poirier is looking for one last hurrah…rematch, anyone?
He wants it ALL! @DanTheHangman is talkin' his talk after beating Mateusz Gamrot at #UFC305!
Speaking of underdogs who made a mockery of their betting lines…
Steve Erceg was perhaps one or two ill-advised takedowns away from a shock title win in Brazil this past May. And his efforts left many heavily favoring him to bounce back at the expense of the returning Kai Kara-France at UFC 305.
But in the words of the New Zealander’s teammate Israel Adesanya, “Y’all must have forgot.”
With Kai Asakura’s signing and Kara-France’s emphatic performance on Saturday night, Alexandre Pantoja isn’t short on possible challenges. And with that, the flyweight division remains among the most exciting, and one in which you absolutely should not blink.
it always seemed unlikely that the UFC 305 main event would disappoint. It was just always going to deliver, wasn’t it? But even so, what we got in Perth was special.
Add in a bit of a feud, the story of Adesanya’s return, and Du Plessis’ continued habit of proving his sizable group of doubters wrong, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a Fight of the Year contender.
Through three rounds, I had the champ leading 29-28, but that was by no means a clear and easy score. As has been the case with the South African in the past, the tale was his power shorts versus his opponents’ volume. In the end, after that had already put him up on the scorecards, “Stillknocks” connected hard in a fourth frame that had been all Adesanya, eventually putting him down and locking in a rear-naked choke.
The positives here are all around, from the entertaining nature of the fight to the pair’s respectful exchange in the Octagon in the aftermath to Adesanya’s humble approach to another setback.
Du Plessis, of course, deserves the main plaudits. He is beginning to amass a largely unrivaled résumé in the UFC, with his 8-0 record including a knockout of Robert Whittaker and the feat of being the first to submit another all-time great in “The Last Stylebender.”
@Stylebender | #UFC305 | @UFCStore pic.twitter.com/lBoBT7HxNb
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