Will Alex Pereira return to middleweight to reclaim the belt that was once his?
The UFC light heavyweight champion, who has teased a potential move to heavyweight for a third title, was quick to post his reaction after watching Dricus du Plessis successfully defend the middleweight title at UFC 305 by tapping out Pereira’s longtime rival Israel Adesanya in the fourth round Saturday night in Perth, Australia.
“Coming down to 185 one more time,” Pereira wrote.
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A post shared by Alex “Poatan” Pereira (@alexpoatanpereira)
“Poatan” won the UFC middleweight belt in 2022 with a fifth-round knockout of Adesanya, but lost it in an immediate rematch five months later. The Brazilian star then moved up to 205 pounds, defeated Jan Blachowicz, and captured the vacant title with a knockout over Jiri Prochazka. Pereira has since defended it twice with knockouts of Jamahal Hill and Prochazka again.
Pereira is currently scheduled to make the third defense of his light heavyweight belt at UFC 307, which goes down Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City.
Dricus du Plessis | Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images
Dricus du Plessis backed up all his talk, submitting Israel Adesanya in the main event at UFC 305 to retain his middleweight title on Saturday. Now the “Stillknocks” era is well and truly underway as the MMA Fighting crew reacts to the massive pay-per-view event from Perth, Australia.
Following an wild pay-per-view event, Jed Meshew, and E. Casey Leydon react to du Plessis’s big win and just how good the middleweight champion actually is. Additionally, they discuss where Adesanya goes from here, how Alex Pereira fits into everything, Kai Kara-France’s impressive knockout of Steve Erceg, Dan Hooker taking home a split decision over Mateusz Gamrot in one of the best fights of the year, and much more.
Watch the UFC 305 post-fight show above, or an audio-only version of the show can also be streamed below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your pods.
A typical wild night for Dan Hooker earned him some extra bucks.
Hooker overcame some early adversity to rally to defeat Mateusz Gamrot for the split-decision win that also was the Fight of the Night at UFC 305. It was the third time Hooker has won Fight of the Night honors in his career.
Kai Kara-France and Carlos Prates picked up Performance of the Night bonuses with their knockout wins at the RAC Arena. Kara-France flattened Steve Erceg at the 4:04 mark of the first round.
Prates also had a memorable performance in the Octagon in Perth, knocking out Li Jingliang at the 4:02 mark in the second round.
Dricus du Plessis proved once again that he’s the best middleweight in the world.
On Saturday night at UFC 305, du Plessis put a nail in the coffin in his long simmering rivalry with Israel Adesanya after he tapped out the former champion with a nasty rear-naked choke in the fourth round to defend his belt and cement him top the 185-pound division.
While nothing came easy, du Plessis showed toughness, durability and unwavering belief that he would finally get to Adesanya, which is exactly what he did. After hurting “The Last Stylebender” with a barrage of punches on the feet, du Plessis secured a takedown and immediately moved to sink in the submission.
DRICUS DU PLESSIS SUBMITS ISRAEL ADESANYA IN THE FOURTH
AND STILL. #UFC305 pic.twitter.com/v2O4F59kPv
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) August 18, 2024
A second later with a grimace on his face, Adesanya tapped out with the end coming 3:38 in the fourth round. Afterwards, du Plessis embraced Adesanya as the bad blood between them was finally put to bed.
“For me to share this octagon with a legend, 100 percent a Hall of Famer,” du Plessis said about Adesanya after his win. “This man has done so much for this sport. I’m really sorry that it came across that I disrespected the fact that he’s from Africa, that was never my intention.
“Tonight Africa would have won regardless. But tonight South Africa was the victor. It was an honor for me to share this cage with a legend like that. I have the utmost respect for him, warrior to warrior.”
Despite a valiant effort, Adesanya just couldn’t crack du Plessis’ iron chin and while he survived an early takedown and submission attempt, he failed to break free from the same position in the fourth round. It was understandably a heartbreaking loss for Adesanya but he acknowledged his undoing while giving du Plessis credit for the win.
“I already knew he was going to be tough,” Adesanya said. “It wasn’t a surprise. I felt strong, able to resist his takedowns. I just made a stupid dumb mistake on the ground.”
The fight really played out almost as expected with Adesanya displaying technical brilliance on the feet and du Plessis just finding a way to win by any means necessary. No one is going to mistake du Plessis for a world class striker like Adesanya but he just kept finding a way to rush forward and blast Adesanya with stiff punches that kept the 35-year-old veteran off balance.
In the second round, du Plessis secured a takedown and he battled to get control of a squirmy Adesanya, who just refused to give up the position. Eventually, du Plessis got the back and nearly locked on the rear-naked choke but Adesanya found a way to break free to return to his feet.
There were definitely moments where it looked like Adesanya was going to really hurt du Plessis when he connected with a long punch or a huge uppercut but somehow the incumbent champion just kept coming back at him again and again. The technique from du Plessis usually involved ducking his head and plowing forward with a huge barrage of shots but he always seemed to find a home on Adesanya’s chin just when he needed something big to land.
That’s exactly how the end of the fight played out with Adesanya seemingly in control at distance and then out of nowhere du Plessis charged ahead and unloaded a combination with a couple of punches stunning the former champion. Once he realized Adesanya was dazed, du Plessis just kept blasting away with punches until he found the opening for the takedown, which led to the fight ending submission.
“I need that takedown, got the takedown,” du Plessis said. “At this level it’s hard to keep people down. This man is the king of getting back up. Nobody can take him down and keep him there. I got a few good ones, landed a few good punches but ultimately I believe this fight was won on the feet. Here I am and still champion.”
While winning the title was a monumental occasion for the South African fighter, du Plessis vanquishing one of the greatest middleweights of all time certainly helps cement him as champion and his resume is starting to look awfully good compared to some greats in that division. As far as what comes next, du Plessis says line them up and he’ll keep knocking them down.
“I want to hear ‘and still.’ I don’t care about the opponents,” du Plessis said.
Immediately after the fight, Adesanya actually removed his gloves but retirement wasn’t on his mind. Instead, he was just dejected by the loss but he channeled his inner Jordan Belfort to promise the UFC hasn’t seen the last of him.
“I know all you motherf*ckers want to see me lose, you want to see me down,” Adesanya said. “But watch this —I’m not f*cking leaving. I’m not f*cking leaving!”
Dan Hooker brought the war to Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 305 and he left with arguably the biggest win of his career.
In a bloody back-and-forth war, Hooker’s ability to shut down Gamrot’s wrestling and dish out a whole lot of damage on the feet helped him secure the victory. While Hooker actually got dropped with a punch in the opening round, he powered back and really punished Gamrot on the feet during numerous exchanges over the final 10 minutes.
When it was over, two judges had the fight 29-28 for Hooker with the third official going 29-28 for Gamrot but that was still enough for the Kiwi to get the win.
“How you like me now?” Hooker shouted after the statement win. “I don’t think I fought that well but you get in a fight, you get your hand raised, that’s all that counts. I’m tougher than old leather. I know I can walk down any man in this world.”
Early in the fight it was Gamrot showing real confidence in his hands with a right hand that tagged Hooker a couple of times in the opening round. That opened up the takedown for Gamrot as he snatched a leg and brought Hooker to the canvas.
Despite Gamrot’s best efforts, Hooker was able to scramble free to get back to his feet but it was short lived success. Gamrot clipped Hooker with another shot that wobbled the New Zealand native and the former two-division KSW champion was all over him with a barrage of punches on the ground.
Just when it looked like Hooker was in trouble, he got back to his feet and cracked Gamrot with a huge left hook to the top of the head. Hooker seized on the moment with Gamrot rattled and struggling to stay on his feet but the Polish wrestler was able to avoid any more damage to make it to the horn.
Following the one-minute break between rounds, Gamrot wasted no time setting up his wrestling as he planted Hooker on the ground with a well-timed double leg takedown but this time they were in the middle of the octagon. Gamrot advanced his position to move into side control as he looked to punish Hooker with his ground and pound.
While it took some time, Hooker eventually broke free to get to his feet and he countered the next takedown attempt with a nasty guillotine choke but Gamrot was relentless with his grappling as he just kept pushing forward.
With five minutes remaining, Hooker really began pushing the pace and getting aggressive going after Gamrot with his striking combinations. While he’s not known for his boxing, Gamrot was still tagging Hooker with a hard right hand that kept his taller opponent honest in the exchanges.
Hooker was more labored with his movement as time ticked away in the final round but he was still catching Gamrot with some hard shots. He was also shrugging off Gamrot’s takedown attempts with ease and then snapping off huge punches whenever he had room to work.
When the final horn sounded, Hooker and Gamrot both looked like they crawled through barbed wire and left a piece of themselves in the octagon. Still, Hooker’s ability to stave off takedowns and do more damage on the feet obviously made the difference on the scorecards.
With the win, Hooker now hopes that he’ll take a huge step forward in the lightweight division, especially after beating a highly ranked contender like Gamrot.
“I want them all,” Hooker said. “I want the ‘BMF.’ I want Conor McGregor. I want a title eliminator.”
Li Jingliang and Carlos Prates face off ahead of UFC 305 | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
This is the UFC 305 live blog for Li Jingliang vs. Carlos Prates, the opening main card fight this Saturday in Perth, Australia.
Joining UFC back in 2014, Jingliang had trouble finding his footing early, but then strung together an impressive run, going 7-1 and cracking into the top 15 of UFC’s welterweight rankings. A loss to Neil Magny derailed “The Leech” though, and since then he’s been unable to build any moment, alternating wins and losses. To make matters worse, this will be the first fight for Jingliang in almost two years as he’s been on the sidelines dealing with injuries, and comes back to a stiff test in Prates.
Currently on a nine-fight win streak, Prates joined UFC last year off the Contender Series, and “The Nightmare” has proven to be just that for his opponents, knocking out Trevin Giles and Charles Radtke already this year. If Prates can do the same to Jingliang, his next fight could find him with a chance to break into the welterweight rankings.
Check out the UFC 305 live blog for the opening main card fight below.
Caio Borralho | Photo by Leandro Bernardes/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
UFC’s middleweight title picture may look quite different in the coming months as most of the key players in the division compete to enter — or re-enter — the conversation for a shot at the belt. One rising contender, Caio Borralho, sees major changes on the horizon.
Dricus du Plessis defends his title Saturday against two-time champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 305 in Perth, Australia. Du Plessis is undefeated inside the octagon and recently claimed the belt from Sean Strickland, who dethroned Adesanya in 2023.
Strickland, ranked No. 2 in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, is the sole top-ranked middleweight currently not booked. Robert Whittaker, No. 4, faces Khamzat Chimaev, No. 11, in the co-main event of UFC 308 on Oct. 26. UFC Paris, scheduled for Sept. 28, is headlined by Nassourdine Imavov (No. 5) vs. Brendan Allen (No. 9), while No. 7 Jared Cannonier battles the unranked Borralho in a five-round main event on Aug. 24.
Looking atop the mountain, Borralho foresees Adesanya dethroning du Plessis.
“I think Adesanya wins,” Borralho told MMA Fighting. “It’s not a good matchup [for du Plessis]. Du Plessis walks forward and explodes with his attacks, while Adesanya moves more laterally. I don’t think Adesanya will fight that much in the first round and then he’ll start to connect. I think Adesanya wins by third-round knockout, or it’s a decision.”
“The division is all mixed up,” Borralho added. “I don’t know if Chimaev gets a title shot or anything like that if he wins against Whittaker, I don’t know if that would be fair. I think Brendan Allen is closer because he has the longest winning streak at middleweight today and he’s fighting Imavov in Paris. I think he’s definitely the next contender if he wins.”
Allen has won seven straight UFC bouts, including finishes of Paul Craig, Andre Muniz, and Bruno Silva prior to a recent split decision over Chris Curtis. Imavov, on the other hand, headlines a card with home field advantage after a controversial stoppage of Cannonier in his most recent appearance and a majority decision against Roman Dolidze earlier this year.
“Imavov is tricky and full of surprises,” Borralho said. “He throws elbows and knees out of nowhere. He’s tall and has a long reach, he’s kind of complete, but I think Brendan Allen is more solid and is having a good moment [in his career]. He has good jiu-jitsu. Imavov also has good jiu-jitsu, but Brendan Allen is better. And Brendan Allen does the basics well on the feet, he can secure some good takedowns, so I think he wins.”
Strickland was victorious via split decision in his most recent bout against Paulo Costa and said he would wait “as long as it takes” to get his shot at the gold, showing no interest in fighting Whittaker. On the hand, Whittaker is staying active by facing Chimaev, and Borralho is curious to see what happens in that five-round clash. Chimaev hasn’t fought since winning majority decision over late-notice replacement Kamaru Usman in October 2023, while Whittaker dismantled Ikram Aliskerov with a quick first-round knockout this past June.
“I think it’s a hard fight for Whittaker because he doesn’t know what to expect from Chimaev’s wrestling,” Borralho said. “When you feel the level of wrestling he has, the pressure, it’s a bit impressive. I’ve trained with him and I know the level he has, I know what to expect if this fight happens one day. The crazy thing about fighting him is that you don’t know what to expect. I don’t think Whittaker has anyone who can mimic half of that wrestling in his camp, so I think Chimaev wins. Being a five-round fight, if Whittaker can survive the first and second rounds, maybe the fights gets better for him, but I still think Chimaev wins.”
Borralho hopes to inject his name into the conversation with a win over Cannonier. Another victory would boost his UFC winning streak to seven straight following past victories over the likes of Craig, Abus Magomedov, Michal Oleksiejczuk, and Makhmud Muradov.
“It all depends on how those fights go,” Borralho said. “If they all win via decision, and one of them gets the knockout, he might be the next [contender], and that’s why I think a knockout or a submission [against Cannonier] might put me as the next contender. I’ll be ready for anything the UFC says, as always. I’ll walk the hardest road and do the fights the UFC asks.
“I’ll point at my waist and ask for my belt after I knock out Cannonier, I’ll show the champion has arrived. But I’ll be ready. If there’s a short-notice fight, anything like that, I’ll be ready for the belt.”
Luana Santos | Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Not long after Luana Santos made short work of Mariya Agapova in July, she agreed to face Casey O’Neill on three weeks’ notice at UFC 305, which goes down this weekend in Perth.
The Brazilian travels to Australia knowing she’s about to compete in enemy territory.
O’Neill was born and raised in Scotland but moved to Queensland when she was 10 years old. Though she’s lived in Oceania ever since and is 4-0 as a professional MMA fighter when competing in Australian soil, O’Neill will experience what’s like to have the home field advantage for the first time since joining the UFC in 2021. But Santos is ready.
“She represents Australia so the crowd definitely won’t be on my side,” Santos told MMA Fighting. “I’m ready for that. They will be on her side. [I want to finish her] so I don’t leave anything to chance.”
Santos is unbeaten under the UFC banner, sandwiching a decision over Stephanie Egger between finishes of Agapova and Juliana Miller. She looks at every other sport where a judge can decide the winner as instructive on why she needs to get the job done early.
“We just saw at the Olympics that we have to be careful with the judges at all times,” Santos said. “It’s inevitable, right? We want to win by knockout or submission, but sometimes it doesn’t happen, and it’s hard to leave in the hands of the judges. In all sports, really.”
Alexa Grasso, who currently reigns at Santos’ weight class, faces Valentina Shevchenko in a flyweight trilogy at UFC 306 after battling to a draw last time around, and Santos agrees that “Bullet” should be concerned about facing the Mexican star at UFC 306, a Mexican-themed pay-per-view on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas.
“I agree with her fear,” Santos said. “It’s her life and career on the line. I think she should have had the chance to pick the date now since she fought on Mexican Independence Day last time, but it’s part of the game. There are things we can’t control, right? I think Valentina won that last fight and they scored it a draw because of the whole Mexico thing. Alexa is tough and is proven she deserves to be there, but I think Valentina wins this time. I think she will win more clearly now to show the judges what they didn’t see last time.”
For now, Santos is thrilled to face a ranked opponent in O’Neill. The 24-year-old talent sees herself sitting in the top 15 with a finish Saturday, and even has a name in mind for a post-fight callout, hoping for a December return to end the year on a six-fight winning streak.
But remains focused on the task ahead.
“She’s coming off two losses so I think she has a ton of pressure over her, and that definitely favors me,” Santos said of O’Neill. “She’s a good fighter everywhere. She walks forward on the feet, her jiu-jitsu is very versatile, but is different from my grappling. My grappling is more judo style, more pressure, and hers is more loose. It’s going to be interesting if the fight goes to the ground.”
“But the fight starts on the feet and she has flaws there, and I will work on her flaws, both on the ground and on the feet,” she continued. “I have three weeks to study her game and work on what will be good for me, and I’m ready. I’ve done everything I had to do to come out victorious, no doubt about it.”
When Israel Adesanya lost in lopsided fashion to Sean Strickland in 2023, it was considered a massive upset at the time.
As the incumbent UFC middleweight champion who’d just vanquished longtime rival Alex Pereira a few months earlier, Adesanya was expected to dispatch Strickland then set up a future showdown against Dricus du Plessis. Instead, Adesanya was dominated for the better part of five rounds and lost his title to Strickland in a shocking unanimous decision.
Knowing he was expected to face the winner, du Plessis watched Strickland vs. Adesanya and was stunned by the result, but he also chalked up Adesanya’s performance to a bad night at the office. His opinion changed rather dramatically, however, after he faced Strickland in a grueling affair back in January, narrowing winning by split decision.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve said it many times in previous interviews where I said I think it was an off night,” du Plessis said of Adesanya’s loss to Strickland during UFC 305 media day. “It was very evident in terms of how he fought, just the whole fight you could see it.
“Then I fought Strickland and my whole perception around that fight changed. Because now I firsthand experienced what it’s like to fight Sean Strickland.”
Spending five rounds against Strickland taught du Plessis a valuable lesson that the Adesanya win wasn’t nearly the upset du Plessis first imagined.
Instead, he came to respect Strickland as an incredibly tough out, but in particular, du Plessis realized that Strickland’s high-pressure, high-volume attack, combined with stifling defense, became a puzzle Adesanya just wasn’t capable of solving.
“[Strickland is] hard to hit,” du Plessis said. “With Izzy, he doesn’t throw volume. He throws strikes, he’s pinpoint accurate with his strikes, or at least he tries to be. He’s more of a move, move, move, hit. When he fought Strickland, he missed all those shots. Strickland is really, really good defensively.
“When I fought Strickland, I immediately realized that’s what happened. I threw volume so I could catch him and I could beat him. But Israel doesn’t throw the volume, so every time he threw, he missed the shot. He missed his shots. He had two, three maximum, and he would miss. Originally I thought Israel had an off night, and then after fighting Strickland and going to watch that fight again, I actually think it was just Strickland doing what he does extremely well and that style didn’t suit Israel at all.”
It remains to be seen if du Plessis can create the same kinds of problems for Adesanya when they fight on Saturday at UFC 305, but he’s obviously anxious to find out.
The matchup against Adesanya is a long time coming, especially with the bad blood the two shared over the past years as du Plessis crept closer and closer to title contention.
While he downplayed the disdain he feels towards Adesanya personally, du Plessis is very excited to put on a show the crowd should enjoy when the main event pops off.
More than anything, du Plessis just wants to compete in fights fans want to see, which is why he’s happy to face Adesanya — and the same goes for anybody else in the middleweight division. That includes a potential rematch against Strickland after UFC CEO Dana White claimed the American will get the next title shot after du Plessis vs. Adesanya.
“I honestly don’t care [who I fight next],” du Plessis said. “I’m here to beat whoever, the fight that people want to see. That’s why this fight is so great for me, that we’re fighting Israel Adesanya, because the most people in the fight world want to see myself versus Israel Adesanya. That’s the fight people want to see.
“At the end of the day, we entertain. We entertain the people. We entertain the crowd and we entertain the people that buy the tickets, that buys the pay-per-views. That’s why they do it, because they want to be entertained.”
The same goes for the highly anticipated matchup between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 in October, with that winner possibly jumping the line for a title shot.
Du Plessis can name good and bad aspects to any potential fight, which is why he leaves it up to the fans and UFC to find his opponents. He just stays ready to knock them down.
“For me, I don’t mind fighting either of those [three], Strickland, Khamzat, or Whittaker,” du Plessis said. “But all three of those fighters have the pros and cons. Actually, fighting Strickland, a lot of people want to see it but it’s a rematch. If that’s the decision of the UFC, great, let’s go for it. Fighting Khamzat, he’s never been beaten, it’s going to be a massive fight just in terms of numbers. Great, let’s do it. Fighting Whittaker, all-time legend Robert Whittaker, but it’s a rematch.
“So there’s pros and cons for any of these three guys. For me, the most important part is fighting the best next guy.”
Watch Craig Jones vs. Gabi Garcia CJI live stream online to see day two of the Craig Jones Invitational on Saturday at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
CJI day two begins at 8 p.m. ET and airs live on MMA Fighting via B-Team Jiu-Jitsu’s YouTube channel. The event features the final rounds of two $ 1 million weight brackets — under 80kg and over 80kg — as well as a pair of grappling superfights, with event organizer Craig Jones taking on IBJJF Hall of Famer Gabi Garcia in a man vs. woman battle, and UFC contender and former ADCC champion Mackenzie Dern meeting former ADCC champion Ffion Davies.
Live video of CJI day two can be watched above.
The updated CJI results for day two can be seen here.
For more on CJI day two, check out MMA Fighting’s live blog of Craig Jones vs. Gabi Garcia.
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