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Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff Writer
UFC 305 was full of surprises. The fight card, which took place in Perth, Australia, and featured many fighters from Oceania, showcased many closely contested fights and a handful of wild finishes — including Carlos Prates‘ stunning knockout of veteran Li Jingliang.
In the main event, middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis successfully defended his title against former champ Israel Adesanya via fourth-round submission. With the win, Du Plessis remains undefeated inside the Octagon (8-0) and has now beaten three of the past four fighters to hold the belt before him.
In the co-main event, Kai Kara-France impressively returned from a yearlong layoff with a first-round knockout of Steve Erceg. Kara-France’s win could be enough to place him firmly into title contention.
What’s the next move for the middleweight champ? Whom should Adesanya face after suffering back-to-back losses? Here’s what the next move should be for the top stars of UFC 305:
Dricus Du Plessis, middleweight
Who should be next: Sean Strickland
UFC CEO Dana White naming Strickland the No. 1 contender ahead of UFC 305 was surprising — recently he hasn’t been announcing such things ahead of time. This one is obvious, though. The title fight between Du Plessis and Strickland in January was entertaining and very close. Had the UFC decided to go with an immediate rematch, it would have been warranted, although I’m glad the promotion went with the Israel Adesanya matchup first. That Du Plessis-Adesanya fight was overdue. But now, nothing is standing in the way of the rematch, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened in December. We started 2024 on pay-per-view with Du Plessis vs. Strickland, and now we could finish 2024 with the rematch.
Wild card: Winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308
This might not be a realistic option. Whittaker lost to Du Plessis 14 months ago. I have a hard time believing he could leapfrog Strickland, regardless of how impressive his performance is. And Chimaev isn’t active enough to leapfrog anyone. If Whittaker wins, I could see it leading to a title shot for him, but not before Du Plessis and Strickland square off again.
Israel Adesanya, middleweight
Who should be next: Khamzat Chimaev, if he loses to Robert Whittaker
Adesanya is definitely at a crossroads here. On one hand, you don’t want to be too dramatic about his troubles. He knocked out Alex Pereira last year at UFC 287. He had Du Plessis in trouble multiple times at UFC 305. He’s still elite, but one wonders how much longer he can remain at this level. And it’s one thing to be competitive at the top; it’s another to win at the very top.
While I don’t want to overreact, he is 1-3 in his past four fights and appears to have lost some of his fire. No one knows when he’ll be back, but if and when he does return, a fresh matchup makes sense. An Adesanya vs. Chimaev fight felt inevitable a year or two ago. Now, it feels like anything but a guarantee. I’d still love to see it, and I think it would be motivating for both.
Wild card: Winner of Brendan Allen vs. Nassourdine Imavov
I can’t even picture this, to be honest. Twelve title fights in a row for Adesanya, and he’s going to now move on to a contender-ish fight in which he’d have almost nothing to gain? But if he doesn’t fight someone like Chimaev, who else is there? The UFC would probably just book him down the rankings and give someone like Allen or Imavov a chance to move up. So, if Adesanya gets the itch and wishes to come back anytime soon, you can’t rule out a matchup like this.
Kai Kara-France, men’s flyweight
Who should be next: Alexandre Pantoja
It’s hard to find a reason Kara-France wouldn’t be the next title challenger. There aren’t many other options for the champion, currently. Although he doesn’t have a loss against Pantoja, Kara-France did lose to him on “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2016. He just knocked out the most recent title challenger in the first round at UFC 305. And he has all the tools to potentially dethrone Pantoja. Multiple guys are either coming off losses or taking time off. This is not only the best option for a flyweight title fight, it’s the only option.
Wild card: Manel Kape
I’m including this only because there is real heat between these two and it’s a fight that has to happen at some point. But some weird things would have to happen for it to be next, considering Kape just lost rather unceremoniously to Muhammad Mokaev at UFC 304.
Dan Hooker, lightweight
Who should be next: Charles Oliveira
Let’s have some fun with this one. After what he did at UFC 305, there’s no shortage of options for Hooker. He beat Mateusz Gamrot — few in the sport predicted he would — and he did it in a Fight of the Night. Hooker’s demoralizing losses (Michael Chandler, Islam Makhachev) and his disastrous move to featherweight against Arnold Allen are a distant memory now. He could fight Dustin Poirier again, or Chandler again, or face Justin Gaethje. Oliveira feels like the most fun of all those options, though. You really can’t go wrong with any of them, but Oliveira would be my top pick.
Wild card: Justin Gaethje
Gaethje is my second preferred option, and the timing could line up. Gaethje vs. Hooker in December? Maybe on the same card as his teammate Kara-France’s title shot?
Carlos Prates, welterweight
Who should be next: Khaos Williams
The possibilities are endless. Prates has been electric through three appearances in the UFC. And I imagine the UFC has already identified him as a future name. Giving him a recognizable opponent in Li Jingliang on the main card of a PPV gives you an idea of what the company thinks of this 31-year-old. There are a lot of fun potential matchups for him next. Give him legit opponents, but maybe nobody ranked quite yet. Fellow strikers such as Punahele Soriano, Randy Brown and Jake Matthews could be options. Any of those would make sense and be super intriguing. Williams is my choice, though. I would take that slightly above the others. But it will be this kind of opponent.
Wild card: Vicente Luque
Or, the UFC could choose to strike while the iron is hot and throw Prates in with a ranked fighter such as Luque. Luque got teased a little bit with a Nick Diaz matchup, but I don’t see that fight coming back anytime soon (or ever, frankly), so he needs a new opponent and Prates would be fireworks. If Prates were to knock out Luque like he’s been knocking out everyone else, he’d be on a fast track to more opponents with a number next to their name, and who knows? Maybe he’s ready for that.