UFC 305: Driscus Du Plessis Makes History
There hasn’t been a UFC main event with a history of bad blood this bad since the first Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya title fight. The Main Card for UFC 305 was more exciting compared to previous cards because of the amount of knockouts. Adesanya vs Plessis was an all-out war, giving the fans the feeling of an exciting title fight. This card was full of fan favorites and impressive individual records, let’s go over what happened.
The main card started with Li Jingliang vs. Carlos Prates. Jingliang, coming off a loss was determined to get back in the win column given his older age of 36. Prates 4-0 in his UFC career needed this win to continue his undefeated streak and eventually make his way up the rankings. The beginning of the first round had a heavy mix of leg kicks and feints. Both fighters were trying to gauge their opponents' reach and it took about two minutes for someone to try and land a serious blow. Around the 2:45 mark in the round, Prates started to land combo after combo on Jingliang. Prates knocked Jingliang down twice in the first round, both coming by a left hook. Prates picked up right where he left off in the second round. He looked extremely calm and patiently waited for Jingliang to strike so he could counter. With 56 seconds left in round two, Prates knocked out Jingliang. He will forever be remembered as the first fighter to knock out Jingliang.
The next fight was a Heavyweight matchup between Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Rozenstruik walked into this fight as a -230 favorite given his ability to knock fighters out. Tuivasa came into the fight on a four-fight losing streak meaning if he lost this fight, it might take him years to reach the top five in the Heavyweight division. Rozenstruik made it apparent early that he wanted to damage Tuivasas calf. In the first two minutes of round one, he threw over five calf kicks, and although they didn’t seem like they hurt I can guarantee they did. The first round was close but I gave Rozenstruik the nod because of the discrepancy in significant strikes between the fighters. Tuivasa had a better round two, landing double the amount of shots he did in the first round but his aggressive approach came at a cost. I counted at least two times that round that there was a chance Rozenstruik was going to put the fight away. The calf kicks from Rozenstruik that I mentioned earlier started to take a toll on Tuivasa. The announcers said that it seemed as though Tuivasa couldn’t put his weight on his back leg because of the amount of damage he took. Heading into round three everyone in attendance knew it would take a knockout/submission for Tuivasa to come out victorious. Unlike the previous fight, this one did not end with a crazy knockout but it was entertaining to watch these heavyweights exchange big blow after big blow. Rozenstruik won the fight via split decision extending his winning streak to two.
Dan Hooker vs. Mateusz Gamrot was the next fight on the card. Gamrot came in a -325 favorite, but everyone knew Hooker had a good chance to win. This fight started faster than the other two. Both fighters practically rushed to the center of the cage to exchange blows. Gamrot landed a shot that left Hooker leaking blood from his left eye. He followed this up by taking Hooker down and landing huge blows in the ground and pound. With about a minute left in the round Hooker was able to change the momentum. He landed a left hook that shook Gamrot up badly and made what was a clear round-one win for Gamrot seem more like a draw. In the second round, Gamrot brought the fight to the floor. After almost getting knocked out in the first round, it seemed like Gamrot didn’t want to risk a loss by standing up with Hooker. Hooker and Gamrot both flashed in this round and it was unclear who the winner was through two rounds. The winner of round three was most likely going to win the fight. Hooker was the aggressor in the third round, constantly applying pressure on Gamrot. Hooker also defended the takedown very well during this final round and Gamrot seemed jittery. In the end, it felt like Gamrot was trying to “chew” the clock and finesse a decision victory while Hooker was going for the k.o. Hooker won the fight via split decision and although Gamrot didn’t seem to agree, I felt like this was the correct outcome.
The co-main event was a Flyweight fight between Steve Erceg and Kai Kara-France. Erceg came into the fight on a one-fight losing streak but was the -225 favorite. France came into the fight on a two-fight losing streak with a little over a year since his last fight. This fight started off with France being the aggressor. He rushed Erceg multiple times with the same 1-2, overhand left combo. His overhand left Erceg extremely wobbly and France was able to put the fight to rest with a couple of ground-and-pound shots. France is likely to get either a title fight or a number one contender fight next.
Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis for the Middleweight title was the final fight of the night. Everything from the first press conference to the walkouts was a nerve-racking experience for anyone paying close attention. The bad blood between Adesanya and Plessis ran so deep that we all knew we were in store for an exciting title fight. Plessis came out swinging early while Adesanya was more patient. Adesanya cut Plessis early with a knee right above his eye, meanwhile, Plessis focused more on kicking Adesanyas legs. Round one was close but I scored it 10-9 Adesanya. Round two was when Plessis switched things up. He shot 5 takedowns during the round and had good ground control. Adesanya was winning the standing exchanges but given the control time Plessis had in round two, I had it tied heading into the third. The third round was weird because both fighters looked extremely tired. Even though Plessis was the one exerting a massive amount of energy while grappling, it seemed to take an effect on Adesanya as well. Similar to round one, round three was hard to judge but I scored it for Adesanya. Round four was the round where the unexpected happened. In a round where it seemed like Adesanya was winning, Plessis caught him with a hard right hand. The blow caused Adesanya to fall to the ground and that was when Plessis took his back and made Adesanya tap. Plessis is still undefeated and we are all wondering one thing, who will he fight next?
