By the Numbers: UFC 305

It isn’t always pretty, but one thing is certain: Dricus Du Plessis finds a way to win fights.

Facing a motivated Israel Adesanya, “Stillknocks” dug deep and retained his middleweight title with a fourth-round submission victory in the UFC 305 headliner at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on Saturday night. The 30-year-old South African hasn’t lost a fight since October 2018, and he figures to have no shortage of suitors at 185 pounds in the months to come.

Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 305, with statistics courtesy of UFCStats.com.

8: Consecutive victories for Du Plessis, tying him with Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero for the fourth-longest winning streak in UFC middleweight history. Only Anderson Silva (13), Adesanya (12) and Chris Weidman have longer winning streaks at 185 pounds.

4: Takedowns landed in nine attempts by Du Plessis. That ties him with Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori for the most landed against Adesanya during his UFC tenure. Du Plessis also attempted two submissions (including the decisive choke) and logged 3:39 of control time in victory.

97: Significant strikes landed by Adesanya. Du Plessis, meanwhile, landed 90. Adesanya outlanded his opponent 17 to 13 in Round 2 and 40 to 31 in Round 3. Du Plessis held a 22-to-16 edge in Round 1, and both middleweights landed 24 significant strikes in Round 4.

26: Significant body strikes for Adesanya. By comparison, Du Plessis landed seven. Du Plessis, meanwhile, had a 22-to-8 edge in significant leg strikes.

1-3: Record for Adesanya since November 2022. During that stretch, “The Last Stylebender” has fallen to the likes of Du Plessis, Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira. The Nigerian-born Kiwi began his professional MMA career with 20 straight triumphs.

8: Career knockdowns for Kai Kara-France in UFC competition, a figure that ranks second all-time at flyweight behind former champ Deiveson Figueiredo (11). Kara-France floored Steve Erceg twice en route to a technical knockout victory at the 4:04 mark of Round 1 in the evening’s co-main event.

3: KO/TKO victories for Kara-France, tying him with four others for the fifth most in UFC flyweight history.

10: Takedowns defended by Dan Hooker in a split-decision triumph over Mateusz Gamrot in their lightweight encounter. Gamrot landed five of 15 attempts and logged 4:59 total control time, but Hooker’s defensive wrestling proved to be a key factor in a closely-contested bout.

65: Significant strikes landed by Hooker. By comparison, Gamrot landed 64. Gamrot outlanded his foe 26 to 20 in Round 1, while Hooker outlanded his adversary 17 to 11 in Round 2 and 28 to 27 in Round 3.

24: Significant body strikes landed by Hooker. By comparison, Gamrot landed six. However, the Pole did hold a 56-to-41 edge in significant head strikes.

Related » UFC 305 Round-by-Round Scoring

91: Significant strikes landed by Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a heavyweight clash with Tai Tuivasa. By comparison, Tuivasa landed 37. Despite that differential, judge Howie Booth submitted a 30-27 tally for Tuivasa in Rozenstruik’s split-decision triumph.

5: Consecutive UFC defeats for Tuivasa, who has fallen to Rozenstruik, Marcin Tybura, Alexander Volkov, Sergei Pavlovich and Ciryl Gane during his current skid.

233: Combined significant strike deficit for Tuivasa during that losing streak.

28: Professional fights before Jingliang Li suffered his first knockout defeat at the hands of Carlos Prates in their featured welterweight bout.

9: Consecutive victories via KO or TKO — including three in the UFC — for Prates, who has vanquished Li, Charlie Radtke and Trevin Giles inside the Octagon. Prates’ three straight KO/TKO victories is tied with three others for the second-longest active streak in the promotion.

4: Knockdowns landed in three UFC appearances for Prates. The Brazilian had two official knockdowns against Li and was very close to having a few more.

4: Heel hook submissions in UFC heavyweight history after Valter Walker used the maneuver to elicit a verbal tap from Junior Tafa at the 4:56 mark of the first round. The others: Ciryl Gane, Christian Wellisch and Mike Ciesnolevicz.

8: Unofficial media scorecards, of the 12 tracked by MMADecisions.com, that scored the featherweight fight between Joshua Culibao and Ricardo Ramos in favor of Culibao. Judges Mark Christie and Mick Meany saw things differently, submitting 29-28 tallies for Ramos to give the Brazilian a split-decision triumph.

70: Significant strikes — including one knockdown — landed by Culibao. Ramos, meanwhile, landed 27. However, the Brazilian did log 4:09 total control time in Rounds 1 and 3 combined, which could have swayed the scorecards in his favor.

49: Significant strikes by which Jack Jenkins outlanded Herbert Burns in their preliminary featherweight scrap. The Aussie floored his opponent twice en route to a third-round technical knockout victory.

13: Takedowns defended in 15 attempts by Kenan Song in a unanimous decision victory over Ricky Glenn at welterweight. Song also held an 87-to-40 edge in significant strikes landed to spoil his opponent’s 170-pound debut.