UFC 305 is heading to Perth, Australia on August 15th and it looks like we have the main event. Earlier this morning, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (24-3) announced on his social media that he was headlining the card against middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (21-2).
In a fight that’s long been rumored, it finally appears to be going down. We haven’t seen Adesanya since last September when he lost his title to Sean Strickland in Australia. It’s been a wild couple of years for the former champion. After going on an incredible run that saw him defend the title five times, Adesanya dropped the title to Alex Pereira.
He got an immediate rematch and knocked Pereira out to reclaim the UFC middleweight title. After DDP knocked out Robert Whittaker, these two were supposed to fight last year. However, Du Plessis wasn’t ready due to an injury and Strickland stepped up. Adesanya lost a five-round decision and decided to take some time away.
UFC 305
While Adesanya stepped away, Sean Strickland’s first title defense came against the number one contender, Dricus Du Plessis. Du Plessis and Strickland had a razor close matchup over five rounds and DDP won a split decision to become the middleweight champion.
From there, it was thought that he would settle the score with Adesanya. However, a lot was up in the air and nothing was finalized. The UFC has still not formally announced the fight, but with this was always the target for this matchup. With Adesanya posting what he did, I think it’s safe to assume that the fight is happening.