Dricus du Plessis beats Israel Adesanya in middleweight title fight at UFC 305

Dricus du Plessis pulled off one of the great middleweight title fight wins over Israel Adesanya to wrap up a massive day of action at UFC 305. See how it unfolded inside.

Nou weet hulle.

It’s the Afrikaans slogan borrowed from the Springboks that’s been splashed across Dricus du Plessis’ merchandise in Perth this week in.

It’s also the catchphrase that motivated South Africa’s rugby side to World Cup victory last year.

It has now seen du Plessis pull off one of the great middleweight title fight wins over Israel Adesanya.

Nou weet hulle: Now they know.

Despite saying he’d be the favourite because he was fighting in Perth the night after the Springboks played the Wallabies, du Plessis was the villain and the underdog in his first title defence.

Dricus Du Plessis celebrates winning his fight against Israel Adesanya. Picture: Getty Images

Du Plessis took Adesanya’s best shots over four and a half high-octane rounds, but when he wobbled the former two-time champion, the Kiwi buckled.

‘Still Knocks’ landed a perfect take-down, sliced in a rear naked choke and made Kiwi tap out.

“I said I’m gonna take him out in the third, and I got it in the fourth,” du Plessis said. “I knew physically I was stronger than Israel Adesanya, but he’s a master at getting back to his feet.

“How many guys have got him down and not been able to do anything with it?

“But I could see in that fourth round that he was staggered from the blows. I could feel that as we went to the ground, he wasn’t resisting at all.

“He was out of it. I caught the back and as soon as I straightened him out, it was over.”

After an ugly, racially-motivated build-up, the bitter rivals embraced and shared a word in the cage after du Plessis silenced the crowd.

Then Springboks captain Siya Kolisi and second-row veteran Eben Etzebeth – who walked du Plessis to the Octagon – entered the cage to celebrate with their mate.

“To share the Octagon with a legend, this man has done so much for the sport,” du Plessis said. “I’m really sorry it came across that I disrespected him. It was never my intention.

“Tonight Africa won. It was an honour to share the Octagon with this legend.”

DDP remains the champ. Picture: Getty Images

It’s the first time the middleweight title has been successfully defended since Adesanya’s July 2022 win over Jared Cannonier and leaves the New Zealander’s future in tatters.

He has now lost three of his last four title fights, including losses to Alex Pereira, Sean Strickland and du Plessis.

It appeared Adesanya was about to announce his retirement, but he said he intended to keep fighting.

It was a mixed day for Aussie MMA further down the card, with just three of the five Australians on the card winning.

Tai Tuivasa has now lost five fights in a row. Picture: Getty Images

In the promotion’s first trip to Australia since UFC 293 in Sydney last year home crowd favourites, Steve Erceg, Tai Tuivasa, Junior Tafa, Josh Culibao and Stewart Nicoll all suffered defeats.

Fresh off pushing flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja to a decision in Brazil, Erceg dropped a first round TKO to New Zealand’s Kai Kara-France in the co-main event. Erceg managed to get to his feet and keep fighting, but Kara-France finished it just seconds later.

Kai Kara-France knocked out Steve Erceg Picture: Getty Images

Tuivasa’s career is in tatters after suffering a fifth consecutive defeat in the UFC, with the Western Sydney crowd favourite dropping a split decision to Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

Nicoll was choked unconscious in scary scenes in the very first fight of the day at 6:30am, before Culibao was unable to beat Ricardo Ramos despite the Brazilian suffering a debilitating leg injury in the first round.

Culibao’s third straight loss leaves his UFC career hanging in the balance.

Meanwhile, Tafa fell to a bizarre submission defeat with just four seconds left in the first round of his heavyweight clash with Valter Walker.

Walker locked in a heel hook, causing Tafa to yell out in pain. That constitutes a verbal tap and referee Steve Percival stopped the fight.

A furious Tafa denied tapping and slapped Walker in the face before storming out of the cage.

Elsewhere on the prelims, Toowoomba’s Tom Nolan and Aussie Casey O’Neill both scored dominant unanimous decision wins.

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Originally published as Dricus du Plessis beats Israel Adesanya in middleweight title fight at UFC 305