5 things we learned from the UFC 305 post-fight interviews

UFC 305 was a great card to enjoy due to great fights that had good finishes and competitive wars. The prelims were mostly slow, but, but the main card delivered as it elevated the whole night. Carlos Prates became the first fighter to knockout Li Jingliang while Jairzinho Rozenstruik gave Tai Tuivasa another loss at a fun pace. Our Fight of the Night prediction came true as Dan Hooker vs. Mateusz Gamrot delivered for all fans with Hooker pulling the upset by winning a split decision. More upsets came as Kai Kara-France became the first fighter to knockout Steve Erceg and Dricus du Plessis became the first fighter to submit Israel Adesanya, retaining his belt in the process. Takeaways from the UFC 305 post-fight press conference will be discussed below.

1. UFC 305 set records

UFC president Dana White was not in attendance for UFC 305 for some reason, which led to Dave Shaw, a UFC executive, stepping in instead to take questions. Shaw shared that UFC 305 was the highest-grossest event in the history of the RAC arena, while merch records were also topped. The gate was $5,477, 097 while the attendance 14,152, making it sold out. UFC 284 was the last visit to Perth, which had 14,124 attending while grossing $4,086,687.70. This event deserved the records due to a high-level main event, with great buildup, along with fan favorites showing out at fight time. Hooker getting a fight boosted the event greatly, as seen, by winning with a Fight of the Night bonus.

2. Israel Adesanya came in heavier at fight night, than usual

After a year-long layoff, Adesanya came back more bulked up than usual. Everyone was curious how much he was going to come in weighing on fight night. Adesanya finally revealed the weighing stats in his post-fight press conference. While he usually comes into fight night at 196 pounds, Adesanya came into UFC 305 at 201 pounds. That was not surprising as Adesanya looked strong and healthy coming into this fight. He looked better than he did against Sean Strickland, as he had du Plessis in some danger in the stand-up.

3. Israel Adesanya is not desperate for a rematch

Adesanya and du Plessis had lots of bad blood before this fight. A major part of the beef was du Plessis saying he would be the first real African champ, since he lives and trains in Africa, unlike other African champs such as Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, and Francis Ngannou. Adesanya chose to amplify that quote and make the whole issue about race, heating the rivalry. When du Plessis knocked out Robert Whittaker in an upset at UFC 290, he had an in-cage face off with Adesanya, where Adesanya was racially crazy and explicit, starting a crazy build-up to a major title fight. They did not end up fighting at the time due to Adesanya planning to headline UFC 293 with du Plessis unable to make a quick turnaround with a fractured foot.

After the period of upsets where Adesanya lost to Strickland while du Plessis won, du Plessis called out Adesanya to finally settle their rivalry, which got booked for UFC 305. More back-and-forth insults were part of the lead-up, but, but the real heated exchanges came at the press conference on fight week. Du Plessis used deep insults such as subtly calling out Adesanya's controversial, sexual attraction to dogs and exposing his life story being exaggerated. Adesanya claimed to have grown up impoverished but apparently, he grew rich with servants, leading Adesanya to cry in public like never before. In what would seem like a rivalry that would last forever, du Plessis and Adesanya made up after the fight, as both showed respect for each other. It was nice to see that Adesanya ended up no longer having harsh feelings for du Plessis after a loss, compared to his losses to Strickland and Alex Pereira.

4. Kai Kara-France wants Kai Asakura to step aside

Kara-France surprised everyone, knocking out Erceg the way he did. He showed that his power is on another level as he, arguably, could be the hardest-hitting flyweight right now. Kara-France believes that he deserves a title shot next as he got a spectacular finish over someone, with lots of hype, who gave Alexandre Pantoja, the current champion, a tough fight. This is not a bad idea as he and Pantoja have history since they fought on The Ultimate Fighter in 2016, where Pantoja won a two-round fight by decision. Currently, there are talks of Kai Asakura, a former bantamweight champion at RIZIN, getting an immediate title fight against Pantoja for his first UFC fight. Either fight for Pantoja sounds intriguing, whether it be new blood or a rematch with two improved athletes.

5. Dricus du Plessis reveals words exchanged after the fight

After du Plessis got the finish, he and Adesanya exchanged words as they hugged. It seemed like they made up, and that made many curious about what was exchanged. A reporter finally asked du Plessis at his post-fight press conference about the verbal exchange. Du Plessis said that he was reaffirming that making history as a real African champ never had anything to do with race. He also said that when he brought up the servants at the press conference, he never said that as a means of disrespecting Adesanya's parents and that he respected them.