UFC 305 start time, full fight card details | Du Plessis vs. Adesanya

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to the pay-per-view (PPV) market later TONIGHT (Sat., Aug. 17, 2024) on ESPN+ from inside RAC Arena in Perth, western Australia. Headlining the event is a bad blood Middleweight title fight between division champion, Dricus Du Plessis, and former 185-pound kingpin, Israel Adesanya. In UFC 305’s co-main event, Kai Kara-France takes on Steve Erceg in a Flyweight battle, while Mateusz Gamrot locks horns with Dan Hooker one fight prior in a Lightweight firecracker. Rounding out UFC 305’s PPV main card are fun showdown between Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Li Jingliang vs. Carlos Prates.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC What’s Hot:

Du Plessis earned a title fight against Adesanya not too long ago after defeating Robert Whittaker at UFC 290, but then shocked the combat world after declining the fight to take some time off to get his body right (or go on vacation). Stepping in his place was Sean Strickland, who pulled off one of the greatest upsets by defeating “The Last Stylebender” via a dominant unanimous decision. Four months later, “DDP” dethroned “Tarzan,” setting up a long-awaited showdown against Adesanya. Currently on a nine-fight win streak — seven under the UFC banner — “Stillknocks” is out to earn his first-ever title defense to solidify his champion status.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

It’s not often that fighters gets a title shot coming off a loss, but since Adesanya had five title defenses under his belt before getting dethroned by Strickland, he is more than deserving of a shot to reclaim his title. He and Du Plessis have a bit of a beef to settle which stems from the champion’s comments stating that he — not Adesanya — is the UFC’s true African champion. Adesanya was born in Nigeria but currently resides in New Zealand, while Du Plessis was born in Welkom, South Africa and resides Hatfield, South Africa. Nevertheless, Adesanya didn’t appreciate the comments and further added fuel to the fire.

It’s a big fight for both men. Du Plessis wants to secure his first-ever title defense, while Adesanya wants to prove to the combat world that he is still championship material by once again adorning the 185-pound title over his shoulder. While it’s easy to say the “The Last Stylebender” has the striking advantage, Du Plessis is no slouch in the department. Still, it’s in “Stillknocks’” best interest to make it an up-close and personal, dirty fight and not give Adesanya the space to operate his standup skills. This one should be fun.

What’s Not: Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

I get that not that not all UFC events can be winners, but if we are expected to pony up some heard-earned cash for a PPV event, I’d expect a better co-main bout than Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg. That is no disrespect to them as competitors, they are both talented, but you are kidding yourself if you believe they have the star power to co-headline a major PPV card. Yes, Erceg did headline UFC 301, but that was because he was on the short list of challengers for flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja. As for France, he has lost his last two fights to Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi, and yet the promotion pegged him with co-headlining duties. Do better, UFC.

Original Card Vs. Actual Card: Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

A women’s flyweight bout between Casey O’Neill and Tereza Bleda was set to go down on the undercard before Bleda withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons. She was replaced Luana Santos, who is on a five-fight win streak, which includes winning her first three fights under the UFC banner. For O’Neill, she needs a win pretty badly here because she is coming in having lost two straight after starting her career 9-0.

Injuries:

A featherweight bout between Gavin Tucker and Jack Jenkins was scrapped after Tucker withdrew from the fight due to an undisclosed injury and was ultimately replaced by Herbert Burns. Jenkins is coming off a loss to Chepe Mariscal as a result of an arm injury in Sept. 2023. That loss snapped his nine-fight win streak, and marked the first loss of his UFC career. As far is Burns goes, he is currently riding a three-fight losing streak and a fourth loss would be detrimental to his UFC career. While he is doing the promotion a solid for stepping in, he can’t rest easy because another loss could be it for him inside the Octagon.

New Blood: Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Undefeated (8-0) flyweight, Stewart Nicoll, is set to make his UFC debut against Jesus Santos Aguilar. At 29 years of age, Nicoll is a finishing machine, defeating eight of his nine foes by way of stoppage — five in the very first round. As for Aguilar, after stumbling out of the gates by losing his UFC debut against Tatsuro Taira, he turned it around by earning back-to-back wins against Shannon Ross and Mateus Mendonca.

How The ‘Prelims’ Look: Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

We’ve already discussed several of the undercard matchups in the sections above, so let’s take a look at the rest of the “prelims,” shall we?

Ricky Glenn’s time with the promotion has been disastrous to say the least, racking up a 4-5-1 record. He hasn’t had his hand raised in victory in over three years, going a paltry 0-2-1 in his last three outings. He will try to turn his luck around against Kenan Song, who has seen better days himself. He is just 1-3 in his last four fights and is coming off a loss to Kevin Jousset. This will be both men’s first fight in 2024.

In a fight that could be dubbed, “Loser Leaves Town,” Joshua Culibao and Ricardo Ramos will throw down in a featherweight affair. Culibao is coming in on a two-fight losing streak, as is Ramos, who has actually lost three of his last four fights inside the Octagon. “Caracacinha” has amassed a 7-5 record during his time with UFC, but he needs a win to stop the bleeding and save his UFC career.

Junior Tafa suffered a second-round technical knockout loss at the hands of Marcos Rogerio de Lima at UFC 298 earlier this year, his second defeat in three outings. “The Juggernaught” will face off against Valter Walker, who suffered the first and only loss of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career against Lukasz Brzeski via unanimous decision three months ago.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Alex Reyes came into the UFC ranks on a 13-fight win streak, but his time with the promotion has been less than stellar. He made his debut in 2017, losing to Mike Perry via first-round knockout (recap here). Reyes then had to take six years off (that’s right, six years) as a result of a rare spinal infection. He returned in Sept, 2023, but then went on to lose again via first-round knockout, this time at the hands of Charlie Campbell. Now, he will return one more time in search of his first UFC victory when he goes toe-to-toe against Tom Nolan, who is 7-1 and coming off a first round technical knockout win over Victor Martinez. Another loss for Reyes could prompt UFC to send him back to the regional circuit in order to allow him time to gather himself and re-gain some confidence.

Who Needs A Win Badly: Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Tai Tuivasa has seen better days inside the Octagon. After starting his UFC career with an 8-3 record — which includes a five-fight win streak — “Bam Bam” has since lost four straight fights, getting stopped in all of those contests by Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov and Marcin Tybura. Granted, that is some rather stiff competition, but the fact remains, Tuivasa — who is still ranked No, 10 — needs a win in the worst way. And it won’t come easy against Jairzinho Rozenstruik (No. 12), because the man hits hard...very hard. “Bigi Boy” is coming off a TKO win over Shamil Gaziev, but he is just 2-3 in his last five fights. I don’t expect this fight to go past the first round and, if I am being honest, this is a toss up fight because both men have a habit of throwing caution and technique to the wind, so the first man to land a wild haymaker will likely get the win. For his sake and UFC employment status, Tuivasa better hope it’s him who gets the nod.

Interest Level: 6.5/10 Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Let’s keep it real, it’s just not a very good PPV lineup. The co-main event is extremely lacking and one of the other featured bouts is between two big men (Tuivasa and Rozenstruik) who have struggled mightily as of late.

In further main card action, Dan Hooker (No. 11) returns after a year away from action to put his two-fight win streak on the line against Mateusz Gamrot, who is currently ranked No. 5 at 155 pounds. Hooker is on a two-fight win streak — his first such streak in five years — defeating Claudio Puelles and Jalin Turner in back-to-back outings. Gamrot is coming in a bit hotter having won his last three fights against the aforementioned Jalin Turner, Rafael Fiziev and Rafael dos Anjos.

The opening fight of the main card is a welterweight bout between Li Jingliang and Carlos Prates, two fighters that I never expected to be kicking off a PPV event. Jingliang has alternated wins and losses for the last five years, and is coming off a loss to Daniel Rodriguez at UFC 279. Jingliang took two years off to recover from a spine injury, and now he is out to return to his winning ways. Prates, meanwhile, is on a nine-fight win streak, which includes coming up big in his first two UFC fights, defeating Trevin Giles and Charlie Radtke, both via technical knockout (TKO).

Enjoy the fights!

Full UFC 305 Fight Card: UFC 305 Main Event On ESPN+ PPV:

185 lbs.: UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya

UFC 305 Main Card On ESPN+ PPV (10 p.m. ET):

125 lbs.: Kai Kara-France vs. Steve Erceg155 lbs.: Mateusz Gamrot vs. Dan Hooker265 lbs.: Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik170 lbs.: Jingliang Li vs. Carlos Prates

UFC 305 Prelims Card On ESPN/ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):

265 lbs.: Junior Tafa vs. Valter Walker145 lbs.: Josh Culibao vs. Ricardo Ramos125 lbs.: Casey O’Neill vs. Luana Santos145 lbs.: Jack Jenkins vs. Herbert Burns

UFC 305 Early Prelims Card On ESPN+ (6:30 p.m. ET):

155 lbs.: Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes170 lbs.: Song Kenan vs. Ricky Glenn125 lbs.: Stewart Nicoll vs. Jesus Aguilar

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 305 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 305: “DDP vs. Izzy” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.