The UFC octagon’s return to Perth delivered a plethora of finishes in the 12-fight card on Saturday. While middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis showed his heart, retaining the belt after a tough challenge from Israel Adesanya, the co-main eventer, Kai Kara France stole the show with an R1 KO, bagging the PON bonus.
UFC 305
Gate: $5,477,097 USD
Attendance: 14,152 (sold out)Fight of the Night: Hooker vs. Gamrot
Performances of the Night: Kara-France and Prates— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) August 18, 2024
Catching his opponent, Steve Erceg, with a thudding shot, Kara-France dropped ‘Astroboy’ once before repeating the same and then finished him off with some ground and pound. All in all, Uncle Dana gave out four bonuses. Another sensational performer who won the $50k PON bonus was Brazilian welterweight, Carlos Prates. Prates delivered a highlight reel walk-off KO over ‘The Leech’ Li Jingliang, becoming the first fighter in the UFC to KO the Chinese superstar.
As the promotions Perth return got the gate cross the $5 million mark, the lightweight banger between Dan Hooker & Mateusz Gamrot was awarded the Fight of the Night bonus with both fighters getting $50k each. In fact, the fight was an absolute war that saw both men duking it out till the bell rang, earning the crowd’s respect.
Hooker vs Gamrot – The Lightweight war at UFC 305
The raucous crowd in the sold-out arena sensed something impending after the card opener, Carlos Prates, KOed ‘The Leech.’ Slowly yet steadily the event was developing into a barnburner of a fight card with most prelim fighters doing excellent work. And soon it was time for the lightweight #5 vs #7 showdown.
Making the most out of the opportunity, Dan Hooker showed the dog in him and went to war against the Polish powerhouse who shot for takedowns one after the other. Despite his wrestling-heavy game, Gamrot tested ‘The Hangman’s’ chin a few times giving us one hell of a fight. Hooker, on the other hand, was his usual self, ready to go out on his shield, taking the war to #5 ranked Gamrot.
Effectively using the guillotine choke as his defense, the Kiwi stuffed Gamrot’s takedowns before he dropped him with a shot. To give the Polish fighter the credit, he took like a champ and went at it, even catching Hooker a few times with shots of his own. However, at the end of the duel, two judges scored 29-28 for Hooker who won the bout via split decision.
