There’s something special about a mixed martial arts event Down Under.
Maybe it’s the time warp a North American fan experiences while watching fights on TV on a Saturday night and realizing that they’re taking place the following morning, local time. That’s about as disorienting as being cageside in Australia and knowing that fans halfway around the world are watching the fisticuffs live … last night.
Or maybe it’s something else that makes watching MMA fights in Australia feel so offbeat. Perhaps it is the fights themselves, which often have multiple exclamation points attached. Anyone following the sport for several years has witnessed the reality twists that can emanate from cage fights in this corner of the Southern Hemisphere.
Mark Hunt and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva inflicted a career’s worth of heavyweight damage on each other during one unforgettable night in Brisbane in 2013. A record-setting evening (morning?) in Sydney a year later, with 11 fights and 11 finishes. And, of course, Holly Holm kicking Ronda Rousey off her high horse at UFC 193 in 2015 in Melbourne. That event established a company attendance record that stood until the Octagon was brought back to Melbourne in 2019 and 57,127 filled Marvel Stadium to watch Israel Adesanya knock out Robert Whittaker and become middleweight champion.
When the eight-sided cage returns to Australia on Saturday, the former two-time champ will challenge Dricus Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 305 in Perth. On the line will be not just a shiny strap but the pride of a continent 5,000 miles away, as both fighters are rooted in Africa, though with far different life experiences.
That’s the genesis of just one of several intriguing storylines that will play out this weekend. Here are five things to watch for at UFC 305.
Who will win over the homeland on a distant shore?
1. Middleweight championship: Dricus Du Plessis (c) vs. Israel Adesanya
Saturday’s main event is in Western Australia, although the touchy turf battle is connected to a land on the far side of the Indian Ocean. Du Plessis was born and still lives in South Africa. Adesanya was born in Nigeria and moved with his family to New Zealand when he was 10 years old. In light of those disparate life paths, Du Plessis once declared, “I am the African fighter in the UFC.” That did not sit well with Adesanya, who has said his family emigrated in search of educational opportunities.
If there’s a grudge added to the already lofty stakes, so be it. It’s not a necessary ingredient to make this an intriguing fight, but let’s not forget that the last time Adesanya was in an animosity-fueled matchup, he styled on Paulo Costa before knocking him out in 2020. His one KO since then came against Alex Pereira last year, five months after Pereira had KO’d him. So “The Last Stylebender” has shown a thirst for the get-back, especially against powerful aggressors. Can Adesanya’s counterpunching stop the short reign of Du Plessis, who has bulldozed his way to nine wins in a row?
Which rebuilding project will stand tall?
2. Men’s flyweight: Kai Kara-France vs. Steve Erceg
The first two times Kara-France competed in the UFC, the fights took place in Australia and he was kind of the local guy. He’s actually from New Zealand, 1,300 miles across the Tasman Sea, but his opponents were from the other side of the world, the United States and Brazil. This time, though, it’s an away game for Kara-France, as Erceg was born in Perth and lives 20 minutes from RAC Arena. Erceg has fought in his hometown six times, but all before his signing with the UFC last summer. He’s made just four trips inside the Octagon and already has competed for the 125-pound title.
That last point highlights how this fight, like the main event, is about more than geography. Erceg, 29, was riding an 11-fight winning streak when he unsuccessfully challenged Alexandre Pantoja in May. Kara-France, 31, made a bid for an interim belt in 2022, losing by TKO to ex-champ Brandon Moreno. Both Kara-France and Erceg are in rebuilding mode. A loss here would not be the end of the road toward contender status, but it could send that fighter on a discouraging detour.
Can we all just enjoy a swinging good time?
3. Heavyweight: Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
I feel apologetic for loving Tuivasa fights as much as I do. Sure, I adore watching a finely tuned athlete show off technical combat skills in inflicting damage and shutting down what an opponent can throw their way. That’s the mixed martial arts I’m comfortable being a fan of. But I simply can’t turn away from a slobber knocker, which is what Tuivasa always promises.
What the Aussie cannot always promise, of course, is his delightfully disgusting postfight celebration, the shoey. The beer and footwear come out only in victory, and Tuivasa has lost four fights in a row. But here’s something worthy of celebrating, even before the first haymaker is flung by these heavy-handed heavyweights: the matchmaking. Rozenstruik can swing for the fences like Tuivasa, so this one should be fun while it lasts.
Will this level change be successful?
4. Lightweight: Mateusz Gamrot vs. Dan Hooker
I was starting to get nervous for Hooker — similar to the nerves of watching Tony Ferguson compete at 40 years old. Hooker is just 34 and his skid wasn’t quite as sad, but during a stretch from June 2020 through March 2022, he dropped four of five fights, getting finished in all but one of the losses. It should be noted that those defeats came against Islam Makhachev, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler and Arnold Allen — not a tomato can among them. And Hooker has since bounced back with a pair of victories over opponents a step lower on the ladder (Jalin Turner, Claudio Puelles). The problem for Hooker is that this fight puts him right back at the top level of competition. Gamrot has won seven of eight fights and is on the fringe of the title picture. Will he be too much for Hooker, or will Gamrot get nudged out of the frame?
One fighter’s ceiling is another fighter’s … ceiling?
5. Women’s flyweight: Casey O’Neill vs. Luana Santos
O’Neill was 9-0 after she won her fourth straight UFC fight in early 2022, and observers were beginning to speculate on where her ceiling was. But now she is on a two-fight skid, and the guesswork concerns how far her falloff might be. Meanwhile, Santos is three fights into her UFC run, riding a five-fight winning streak and looking like a rising prospect. This is an appropriate test for both women, a level setter. O’Neill is 26 years old, while Santos is just 24. So their storyline could twist and turn for years.