Dricus Du Plessis will put his Middleweight title on the line when he faces Israel Adesayna at UFC 305.
The showdown will take place inside the RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia on Saturday August 17 and will serve as the evening’s main event.
The pair have had plenty of back and forth in recent years, with the two even facing off inside the Octagon after Du Plessis stopped Robert Whittaker at UFC 290, and will finally get to settle the score and see who will reign supreme.
The bout will see ‘The Last Stylebender’ return to competition for the first time in 11months, one the longest periods of time he has had away from competition. Whilst champion, Adesanya was one of the most active champions in the promotion, in what was an illustrious run for the New Zealand man. After dropping the title to long time for Alex Pereira at UFC 281, Adesanya regained the title in their immediate rematch at UFC 287, before losing the title against – this time to Sean Strickland – at UFC 293.
Following the second loss in three contests, Adesayna announced that he would be taking some time away from competition but certainly was not retiring, just taking some well earned time off. Now back and ready to compete once more, the 34-year old will be looking to reclaim the title he held for so long.
After proving his worth on both EFC and KSW, Du Plessis eventually signed with the UFC in 2020. There was a lot of hype surrounding the South African as fans were curious as to how ‘Stillknocks’ would perform inside the Octagon. In his promotional debut, Du Plessis stopped Markus Perez in the first round of their contest before going on to beat Trevin Giles 10 months later, in July 2021. Due to numerous withdrawals and rebooked contest, it was a whole year before Du Plessis could continue his journey towards the title but picked up where he left off and secured a unanimous decision win against Brad Tavares. His win against fan favourite Darren Till shot the South African into the lime light and after victories against Derek Brunson & Robert Whittaker, Du Plessis had his shot at UFC gold.
At UFC 297 he went to war against the then champion Sean Strickland in a tough 25 minute affair. The bout was extremely closely fought and left the judges split when it came to the decision. Fortunately for Du Plessis, two of the three judges felt he had done enough to take home the win and be crowned the new Middleweight king.
