South African Dricus du Plessis beat Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305 on Sunday in Perth, Australia.
PERTH, Australia — South African Dricus du Plessis took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305 on Sunday.
After scoring some early takedowns, du Plessis had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. But a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down in the fourth round which gave du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold which forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out.
Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa secures a rear choke submission against Israel Adesanya of Nigeria in the UFC middleweight championship fight on Aug 18, 2024.“This man is the king of getting back up,” du Plessis said of Adesanya, who was bidding to become a middleweight champion for the third time. “I’m still alive, that’s a bonus.
The 35-year-old Adesanya was making his first appearance since losing the middleweight title by unanimous decision to Strickland in Sydney in September last year but said Sunday’s latest setback wasn’t career-ending.Earlier, hometown favorite Steve Erceg’s was defeated by a first-round technical knock out in his flyweight bout with New Zealand’s Kai Kara-France. It was Erceg’s first fight since he was unanimously outpointed by champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 in Brazil in May.
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