What’s Next After UFC 304? Full UFC 305 Main Card Confirmed For Perth On August 17

At UFC 305, taking place on August 17 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, reigning middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis will fight for the second time this year. He will defend his gold for the first time in a highly anticipated matchup against returning former two-time champion Israel Adesanya.

The stakes and interest from Oceania for the co-headliner will also be high, as former flyweight title contenders Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg will face off in the latter’s hometown in an attempt to take the belt from Alexandre Pantoja.

Hooker, Tuivasa and ‘The Leech’ set the stage for the title headliner at UFC 305

Before Du Plessis defends his championship on Adesanya’s home continent and the City Kickboxing star’s teammate “Don’t Blink” makes his comeback, a number of other high-profile names will step into the Octagon in the hope of cementing their place on the major card.

That includes fan-favorite lightweight veteran Dan Hooker, whose frequent calls for a spot on the Perth card were finally answered in the form of a pivotal showdown with #5-ranked Mateusz Gamrot. While Hooker has won back-to-back outings against Claudio Puelles and Jalin Turner to start a resurgence, “Gamer” is riding a three-fight win streak.

To that end, Australian Tai Tuivasa will bring his patented post-knockout shoey celebration to the Octagon for the first time since his February 2022 win over Derrick Lewis. That result marked “Bam Bam’s” fifth straight win and moved him to #3 in the heavyweight rankings, but he has since lost four in a row, most recently to Marcin Tybura at the Apex in March. That same month, his next opponent, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, returned to the winning ways at the expense of Shamil Gaziev.

And the opening number is the return of Li Jingliang, who hasn’t made the walk since his controversial defeat to Daniel Rodriguez in their short-lived 180-pound catchweight bout at UFC 279 in September 2022.

Below is the full UFC 304 card as it stands currently.

Main map:

• Dricus Du Plessis (C) vs. Israel Adesanya (Middleweight Championship Main Event)
• Kai Kara-France vs. Steve Erceg (flyweight co-main event)
• Mateusz Gamrot vs. Dan Hooker (Lightweight)
• Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (heavyweight)
• Li Jingliang vs. Carlos Prates (welterweight)

Preliminary map:

• Junior Tafa vs. Valter Walker (Heavyweight)
• Joshua Culibao vs. Ricardo Ramos (featherweight)
• Casey O’Neill vs. Luana Santos (Women’s Flyweight)
• Jack Jenkins vs. Herbert Burns (featherweight)

Early provisional map:

• Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes (Lightweight)
• Song Kenan vs. Ricky Glenn (welterweight)
• Stewart Nicoll vs. Jesus Aguilar (flyweight)