MMA Fighting has a live stream watch party for Saturday’s UFC 305 event, which takes place at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia. In the main event, Dricus du Plessis puts his middleweight title on the line for the first time against heated rival, and former two-time champ Israel Adesanya.
Join MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Conner Burks, and other special guests to watch along with UFC 305 as the main card happens.
In the co-main event, recent flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg faces Kai Kara-France.
In a pivotal lightweight bout, Mateusz Gamrot battles Dan Hooker, while knockout artists Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik collide in a heavyweight clash.
The UFC 305 main card opens up with the return of Li Jingliang for the first time since September 2022 as he faces the surging Carlos Prates.
Watch MMA Fighting’s UFC 305 Watch Party beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET / 6:45 p.m. PT.
Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis will compete at UFC 305 on Saturday night. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The UFC 305 start time, fight card, and TV schedule for the Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya event at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on Saturday night is below.
The fight card is broken into three different parts and airs on multiple mediums. This post helps explain which fights are airing where and at which times.
The event kicks off with a three-fight early preliminary card at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+, headlined by a lightweight bout between Tom Nolan and Alex Reyes.
Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes
Song Kenan vs. Ricky Glenn
Stewart Nicoll vs. Jesus Aguilar
The event then moves to a four-fight preliminary card at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+, headlined by a heavyweight bout between Junior Tafa and Valter Walker.
Junior Tafa vs. Valter Walker
Joshua Culibao vs. Ricardo Ramos
Casey O’Neill vs. Luana Santos
Jack Jenkins vs. Herbert Burns
The ESPN+ pay-per-view begins at 10 p.m. ET and is headlined by UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis and former UFC champion Israel Adesanya. Flyweights Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg clash in the co-main event.
This is the live blog for the Craig Jones vs. Gabi Garcia superfight at the Craig Jones Invitational on Saturday at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
An IBJJF world champion and two-time ADCC silver medalist, Jones is one of the faces of competitive grappling today. However, a dispute centered around the revenue split at ADCC led Jones to find investors and start his own invitational event, and while the main attraction for many is the two $ 1 million tournaments, the intergender grappling match against Garcia has also drawn plenty of attention.
One of the most accomplished female grapplers of all time, Garcia has flirted with the idea of various intergender matchups before but finally committed to this one in large part because of her respect for Jones and the financial incentives. If Garcia manages to upset Jones, it will be the feather in the cap of her already Hall of Fame career.
Check out the live blog for Craig Jones vs. Gabi Garcia below.
Gabi Garcia will compete against Craig Jones on Saturday night. | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
MMA Fighting has CJI results for the Craig Jones vs. Gabi Garcia fight card, live blogs of the two superfights, and more from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev., on Saturday night.
Event organizer Craig Jones headlines the CJI event Saturday when he squares off in a men vs. women superfight against IBJJF Hall of Famer Gabi Garcia. Also on Saturday, UFC star and former ADCC champion Mackenzie Dern faces former ADCC champion Ffion Davies in a superfight as well.
Check out latest Craig Jones Invitational results below.
Saturday’s Action (MMA Fighting at 8 p.m. ET)
Superfights
Craig Jones vs. Gabi Garcia
Mackenzie Dern vs. Ffion Davies
Over 80kg semifinals:
Nicky Rod vs. Adam Bradley
Inacio Santos vs. Fellipe Andrew
Under 80kg semifinals:
Levi Jones-Leary vs. Lucas Barbosa
Kade Ruotolo vs. Andrew Tackett
Over 80kg bronze match:
TBD
Under 80kg bronze match:
TBD
Over 80kg final:
TBD
Under 80kg final:
TBD
For Friday’s results, check out Craig Jones Invitational results here.
Kade Ruotolo | Photo via Craig Jones Invitational Instagram page
Craig Jones Invitational featured some slick finishes and surprising upsets in its inaugural edition Friday night in Las Vegas, setting the table for Saturday’s semifinal matches in the hunt for two $ 1 million checks at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The over 80kg semifinals will see Nicky Rod vs. Adam Bradley and Inacio Santos vs. Fellipe Andrew, and are scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET. The under 80kg semifinals feature Levi Jones-Leary vs. Lucas Barbosa and Kade Ruotolo vs. Andrew Tackett.
The heavier grapplers were the first to enter the arena to compete in the over 80kg division, and Nicky Rod was the star of field with a pair of rear-naked chokes against Max Gimenis and Owen Livesey. His opponent in the semifinal match will be Adam Bradley, who earned the spot after back-to-back split decisions against Kyle Boehm and Pat Downey.
Inacio Santos and Fellipe Andrew worked their way on the other side of the bracket with hard-fought victories.
Santos’ first win was a split decision against Pedro Alex, and he followed it up against one of the surprises of the night. Lucas Kanard had shocked the jiu-jitsu world in earlier that night with a 70-second finish against four-time IBJJF world champion Victor Hugo, but had no answer to Santos’ pressure from top position, losing via decision.
Andrew showed an aggressive guard against three-time NCAA All-American Daniel Kerkvliet, fighting smart to win a decision and move to the quarterfinals and face Brazilian heavyweight Joao Gabriel Rocha. A bloody Rocha gave him a hard time, but Andrew’s multiple attacks from the bottom earned him the unanimous decision win.
Tye Ruotolo had a great start in the under 80kg category, tapping decorate wrestler Jason Nolf with a kneebar in the third round after an electric contest, and Levi Jones-Leary was next to enter the mat to finish Roberto Jimenez fast with an inside heel hook.
Ruotolo had beat Jones-Leary twice in 2022, but struggled with his guard this time in their quarterfinal match. Jones-Leary aimed at his heel during the entire match and couldn’t secure a finish, but did enough to win via unanimous decision to advance to the semifinal match against Lucas Barbosa.
Barbosa kicked off his CJI journey with a lackluster decision win over Kenta Iwamoto and was down in the scorecards with less than 90 seconds left on the clock versus Jozef Chen before jumping for a brutal knee crush submission that forced Chen to tap.
Tye Ruotolo’s brother Kade Ruotolo got the job done on the other side of the bracket, locking a nasty straight ankle lock with seconds left in the opening round of his first match to tap fellow ADCC gold medalist Matheus Diniz. The ONE grappling champion then dominated Tommy Langaker in the quarterfinal match, scoring his third decision victory over Langaker in the past 14 months.
Ruotolo will face Andrew Tackett in the semifinal contest after the young American displayed an exciting grappling style in fun matches against Nicky Ryan and Eoghan O’Flanagan, winning both matches via decision. Like Kade, Andrew advances to the semifinal to keep the family name in the running for a $ 1 million prize after his brother loses in the over 80kg division.
The action will continue Saturday with the semifinal matches in both divisions, plus a pair of superfights featuring jiu-jitsu legend Gabi Garcia taking on CJI leader Craig Jones, and UFC star Mackenzie Dern battling fellow ADCC and IBJJF world champion Ffion Davies.
Click here for complete Craig Jones Invitational, Day 1 results.
Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya will clash in the UFC 305 main event Saturday night. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
MMA Fighting has UFC 305 results for the Du Plessis vs. Adesanya fight card, live blogs for the main card, and more from the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia,
In the main event, UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis will put his belt on the line against former UFC champion Israel Adesanya.
Flyweights Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg will clash in the co-main event.
Impa Kasanganay | Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Impa Kasanganay is one win away from another $ 1 million check.
On Friday night at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, FL, Kasanganay faced Josh Silveira in the main event of PFL 8. It was a rematch of their previous battle in the finals of the 2023 light heavyweight tournament and while he had to work a lot hard this time around, Kasanganay nonetheless got his hand raised.
In their first encounter, Kasanganay outclassed Silveira with superior striking and great defensive wrestling, but heading into this bout Silveira promised he was a new man and the American Top Team product looked it, coming out aggressively to start and putting Kasanganay under fire. What resulted was a back-and-forth dog fight with Kasanganay landing the most significant blows and even scoring a big takedown late in the fight. In the end, the judges awarded Kasanganay with a unanimous decision and he moves on to the 2024 finals where he hopes to become a two-time champion.
This is a different Josh Silveira! He is walking down Impa Kasanganay! How will Impa respond?!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/5vKxdFX1fY
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
Impa catches Josh and gets him off balance for a second. If this goes 3 rounds, we are in for a real good main event!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/yEd4TQNofg
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
Impa with one of his best shots of the fight here in the 3rd round!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/tPQbprT1pZ
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
Massive takedown from Kasanganay in the final :30!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/T8gxZ9zoX2
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
In the co-main event, Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov upset former PFL champion Rob Wilkinson to earn his spot in the light heavyweight finals. Wilkinson made a name for himself in the PFL with his aggressive striking style, but it was Yagshimuradov who got the better of the striking exchanges in the bout, landing the harder punches and stymying Wilkinson’s attack despite not being able to complete any takedowns. In the end, the judges awarded Yagshimuradov’s power punches giving him a clean sweep on the scorecards.
Style point strike from Dovlet Yagshimuradov
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/ujPBIq62CO
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
Dovlet Yagshimuradov is in the zone looking to be pulling ahead in the 3rd!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/ApOfCUE4aE
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
In the featured fight of the evening, Gadzhi Rabadanov punched his way into the lightweight tournament finals, stopping Michael Dufort in the second round. Friend and training partner of Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rabadanov showed off his striking instead of his grappling on Friday, clubbing Dufort with a stepping left hook and then finishing him with follow-up shots on the ground to earn his spot in the finals.
Gadzhi Rabadanov LANDS FLUSH! HE IS GOING TO THE FINALS!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/N6zfenH2M3
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
In the first lightweight semifinal of the evening, former Bellator lightweight champion Brent Primus secured his spot in the tournament finals with a dominant showing against 2023 lightweight tournament finalist Clay Collard. Primus was able to leverage his wrestling and grappling skills to negate Collard’s striking skills, repeatedly scoring takedowns and taking dominant position en route to a unanimous decision victory.
Brent Primus gets on Collard’s back early in round 1!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/OvNZaXY7pN
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
Non-stop shots from Brent Primus! He may get the job done in round 2!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN & ESPN+ | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/84zHY9ufmm
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2024
The best performance of the evening though was reserved for the the opening main card fight, where Biaggio Ali Walsh scored the first knockout of his professional career, stopping Brian Stapleton in just 55 seconds.
Ali Walsh, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, fought several times for PFL as an amateur but made his pro debut earlier this year with a unanimous decision win at PFL vs. Bellator. This time around though things went more like most of his amateur fights, as he leveled Stapleton with with a right hand over the top of a jab to score the quick finish.
Biaggio Ali Walsh delivers a rocket straight to the dome and gets a quick 1st round stoppage!
[ LIVE NOW | ESPN | #PFLPlayoffs | #PFLHollywood | https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI ] pic.twitter.com/5zGEjKFAN3
Impa Kasanganay vs. Josh Silveira headlines PFL 8 at in Hollywood, Fla., on Friday night. | PFL
MMA Fighting has PFL 8 results for the Kasanganay vs. Silveira fight card and more from Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood in Hollywood, Fla., on Friday night.
In the main event, Impa Kasanganay faces Josh Silveira for a berth into the light heavyweight final. Kasanganay beat Silveira via unanimous decision in their previous meeting — the light heavyweight final for the 2023 season.
Rob Wilkinson and Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov clash in the other light heavyweight semifinal.
Prospect Biaggio Ali Walsh also will compete in his second PFL fight of the year.
Check out PFL 8 results below.
Main card (ESPN/ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET)
Impa Kasanganay vs. Josh Silveira
Rob Wilkinson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov
Gadzi Rabadanov vs. Michael Dufort
Brent Primus vs. Clay Collard
Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. Brian Stapleton
Prelims (ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET)
Danny Sabatello vs. Lazaro Dayron
Mads Burnell vs. Elvin Espinoza
Thad Jean def. Chris Brown via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Jordan Oliver def. Braydon Akeo via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Dricus du Plessis | Photo by Will Russell/Zuffa LLC
This Saturday, the UFC returns to Perth, Australia for UFC 305, headlined by a middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya. It’s a fight that looked like it may have been derailed entirely with Adesanya’s shocking upset loss to Sean Strickland last September, but now that du Plessis is the champion, the matchup is back from the dead, and it brings with it 11 other fights for the Perth fans.
So let’s dive into the best bets for this weekend.
As always, all odds are courtesy of our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Straight Bets
Dricus du Plessis (-105)
I have a larger breakdown of this fight over on SBNation, so we don’t need to get into too much detail for the main event, but it’s a pretty simple bet: I believe Israel Adesanya is past his prime, perhaps by a decent amount.
Adesanya is 35 years old and has 145 fights (that we know about) to his name. That’s a lot of mileage for anyone. Too much mileage. I think we saw his decline manifest pointedly in the Sean Strickland fight and that’s not something that gets better. Add in that du Plessis is a cagey fighter (I’ve comped him to Yoel Romero) at the peak of his powers and that lines up for a “DDP” win.
Dan Hooker (+270)
Dan Hooker takes on Mateusz Gamrot in the featured bout of the evening as a heavy underdog. Too heavy, in my opinion.
Coming off the Jalin Turner war, I was prepared to fade Hooker in his next bout, because that’s the type of fight that changes fighter’s careers. But then he got this matchup, and while in a straight head-to-head I might pick Gamrot, Hooker has a very good chance to win this one.
Gamrot is all cardio chain wrestling, and Hooker, for his faults, is a very solid defensive wrestler and grappler. He will be able to stuff many of Gamrot’s shots, if not all of them, and he has the superior striking game. Plus, Gamrot isn’t much risk to hurt Hooker on the feet, so my biggest concern for Hooker isn’t in play this fight.
Casey O’Neill (+130)
I’m not sold on Luana Santos, at least not yet. Santos certainly has talent but she’s also been somewhat mercurial in her performances while O’Neill was on her way straight up the rankings before getting upended by Jennifer Maia. No shame in losing to a veteran like Maia, but the loss to Ariane Lipski afterwards has but O’Neill’s back to the wall and I expect to see her fight like it. As long as she doesn’t get overrun in the grappling, O’Neill’s high pace and output on the feet give her a clear path to victory.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Prop Bets
Tai Tuivasa To Win By KO/TKO/Decision (+250)
Picking a man who is currently on a four-fight losing streak to break that streak with a finish may not be the smartest idea I’ve ever had, but it’s one I’m committed to.
Tuivasa takes on Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a main card heavyweight title, and despite his run of terrible performances, he’s got a decent shot in this one. Rozenstruik is also a kickboxer but doesn’t have a bulletproof chin and is prone to getting into sloppy engagements. That’s where Tuivasa makes his money.
If Tuivasa gets knocked out in this one, it’s probably the end of his career. But I’m betting he’s got a little more left in the tank. And when Tuivasa wins, it’s almost exclusively by knockout, so take the extra edge with the prop.
Li Jingliang vs. Carlos Prates Under 2.5 Rounds (-160)
In 25 career fights, Prates has gone to a decision three times. The man is simply an exceptional get-or-get-got fighter who hasn’t even seen the third round since 2019. Jingliang certainly has a few more decisions under his belt but in his 16 fights in the UFC, “The Leech” has only seen the scorecards six times and he’s coming off a nearly two-year layoff. I expect this fight to be violent.
Photo by Brenton Ho/Zuffa LLC
Parlay of the Week
When there’s a gimmick to be had, I’ll parlay it and there are two available this week. First is the former KSW champion gimmick with du Plessis and Gamrot, but since I’m fading Gamrot, we can’t do that. So instead we’ll have to fade the brothers!
This card features FOUR fighters who have brothers in the UFC: Alex Reyes (Dominick Reyes), Herbert Burns (Gilbert Burns), Valter Walker (Johnny Walker) and Junior Tafa (Justin Tafa). You may also notice from that list that each of these men’s brothers are better than they are, with one exception (it’s debatable but Junior appears to be better than Justin).
Fortunately, that works in our favor as Tafa and Walker are scheduled to fight each other anyway, so let’s we have a very simple “Fade The Less Good Brother” parlay available which is both deeply silly and quite fun.
Parlay these three bets together for +115 odds.
Wrap Up
I’ve been waiting for this main event for a long time so I’m pumped for this weekend. Hope y’all are as well.
Until next week, enjoy the fights, good luck, and gamble responsibly!
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