Dricus Du Plessis remains the king of the middleweight division, submitting former two-time champion Israel Adesanya by rear-naked choke in Round 4 to retain his title Saturday in the main event at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.
Du Plessis caught Adesanya with a left hook and wore him down with a series of strikes before getting him to the ground, where the champion locked in the choke and got the tap at 3 minutes, 38 seconds.
Du Plessis (22-2) won his 10th straight fight and was coming off a split decision over Sean Strickland in January to win the 185-pound title. Du Plessis entered as the No. 1 middleweight in ESPN’s rankings.
Adesanya (24-4) had not fought since losing his title to Strickland by unanimous decision last September. Before that loss, he knocked out Alex Pereira to reclaim his belt for the first time. Adesanya entered the day rated No. 7 in ESPN’s pound-for-pound men’s rankings.
Source Agencies
