Jan 20, 2024; Toronto, Canada, USA; Dricus Du Plessis (blue gloves) celebrates defeating Sean Strickland (crimson glove) throughout UFC 297 at ScotiaBank Area. Obligatory Credit score: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports activities Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis pulled off a surprising victory and profitable title protection on Saturday evening, getting No. 2 contender Israel Adesanya to faucet out within the fourth spherical of their championship battle at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.
In a extremely anticipated major occasion that lived as much as the billing, Adesanya — the previous champion who was preventing for the primary time since September of final yr — took two of the primary three rounds on one scorecard, whereas two different judges had Du Plessis main 2-1 in rounds.
However with little greater than a minute and a half left within the fourth, the South African Du Plessis landed three straight rights to ship Adesanya stumbling across the octagon. Du Plessis then took Adesanya to the mat, jumped on his again and put a chokehold on his opponent.
Adesanya tapped out with 1:22 left within the spherical.
It was Du Plessis’ first profitable title protection because the 30-year-old improved to 22-2-0 in his profession. Adesanya is now 24-4-0 total.
Within the co-main occasion, Kai Kara-France emphatically introduced his return to the flyweight division, ending a 14 1/2-month layoff with a surprising first-round stoppage win over Steve Erceg. With 1:10 left within the spherical, Kara-France despatched Erceg to the mat with an overhand left. Erceg was capable of get to his ft inside a number of seconds however Kara-France by no means relented, sending Erceg to the ground once more with 59 seconds to go. The referee instantly stepped and ended the battle with 56 seconds on the clock.
Kara-France (25-11-0) final received a battle on March 26, 2022, beating Askar Askarov by unanimous resolution. He was 0-2 between that battle and Saturday evening.
Whereas Adesanya-De Plessis was the headliner, maybe no fighter had an even bigger evening than welterweight Carlos Prates. The UFC rookie, preventing in his third bout for the promotion, scored a historic victory in bettering to 3-0 with the UFC.
The “Dana White’s Contender Sequence” alum grew to become the primary particular person to knock out veteran Li Jingliang, flooring the Chinese language fighter a minute into the second spherical. The Brazilian Prates landed a sequence of blows to depart Jingliang surprised and gradual to defend himself on the fence, then completed the job with a left hook.
Jingliang has fought solely with UFC for 10 years and fell to 19-9-0 in his total profession.
In different outcomes from the principle card:
** Light-weight: Dan Hooker def. Mateusz Gamrot, cut up resolution (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
** Heavyweight: Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Tai Tuivasa, cut up resolution (29-28, 27-30, 30-27)
–Area Stage Media
