Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya fought for the middleweight title in a highly-anticipated grudge match that headlined UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.
Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya finally got to settle their bad blood when they met in a middleweight title fight that headlined UFC 305.Fans originally began clamoring for a matchup between the two middleweights after Du Plessis knocked out Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 and then had a viral face off in the cage with Adesanya, but when "The Last Stylebender" suffered an upset-loss to Sean Strickland it threw the highly-anticipated grudge match in jeopardy.
Adesanya originally claimed he'd be taking some extended time off after losing his title, but Du Plessis' split decision-win over Strickland at UFC 297 set the stage for the two-time champion to return at UFC 305 and attempt to claim the middleweight belt for a third time.
Du Plessis continued trying to pursue takedowns for the remainder of the second round, however once things kicked off in the third Adesanya established more of a rhythm with his striking and found particular success landing body shots.Adesanya got right back to the body work in the fourth round, but a tremendous rally from Du Plessis saw the champion send "The Last Stylebender" to the canvas and lock up a rear naked choke to successfully defend his middleweight belt for the first time.
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