Middleweight king Dricus Du Plessis defeated former two-time champion Israel Adesanya in the fourth round to retain his title in the main event of UFC 305 on Saturday in Perth, Australia.
Du Plessis caught Adesanya with a left hook and wore him down with punches before taking him down, where the champion choked and passed out after 3 minutes and 38 seconds.
Du Plessis (22-2) won his 10th straight fight against Sean Strickland to capture the 185-pound title in January. Du Plessis is rated as the number one middleweight by ESPN.
Adesanya (24-4) has not fought since losing her title to Strickland by unanimous decision last September. He defeated Alex Pereira for the first time to regain the belt before the loss. Adesanya is ranked seventh in ESPN’s men’s weight class rankings.
Dorikas du Plessis successfully defended his middleweight title for the first time by knocking out Israel Adesanya in the fourth round.
The fight looked evenly matched, with both fighters landing good shots and combinations. But Du Plessis suddenly changed course.
He landed a hard left punch to Adesanya’s head and immediately landed three hard right punches to the head. He took Adesanya down and gave him a naked back choke. Adesanya taps in and du Plessis wins by submission at 3:38 of the fourth.
A methodical first round with some good exchanges. Du Plessis had a small cut on his forehead, but neither fighter looked too exhausted.
Things got better in the second round. Du Plessis decided to separate and the fight eventually fell apart. Du Plessis maintained control and tried to land a chokehold, but Adesanya was able to break free and get back to her feet. Hero did at least two more shots in the picture.
Adesanya appeared to take control of the fight in the third round, landing several heavy punches to the body of du Plessis. Adesanya also landed a great elbow. However, Du Plessis responded with some big punch combinations.
The fourth round started similarly, with Adesanya landing some good punches. However, du Plessis found the answer again and took a surprise win before the end of the round.
The men hugged again after the fight and again after the interview, seeming to put any bad blood behind them. Du Plessis praised Adesanya in his post-fight interview.
So what does the future of heroes look like? If Alex Pereira has his way, the game will be against Poitan. “I’m going back to 185,” Pereira said on Instagram immediately after the fight.
As for Adesanya, the former champion admitted he doesn’t know what the future holds after losing his second fight in a row. But he introduced Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street” and announced with all the appropriate explanations that he would not be leaving.