UFC 305 proved to be an unpredictable night, both in terms of winners, action, and in some cases, scores (we’re looking at you, Howie Booth, the referee who gave Tai Tuivasa a 30-27 decision in a fight he clearly lost).
However, the main card of the fight was held, from the opening fight between Li “The Leech” Jingliang and Carlos Prates to the middleweight main event, in which Dricus Du Plessis became the first man in history to force Israel Adesanya to submit.
When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, all three bonus fighters (and four bonus winners) from the UFC 305 main card had been selected, which was no surprise. It started with welterweight Prates, who became the first man to knock out China’s Jingliang, a 28-fight veteran. “The Leech,” known for his ability to take a beating, went down late in the second round.
In addition to that bonus, the second Performance of the Night award went to Kai Kara-France, who scored his 12th first-round KO/TKO by knocking out Steve Erceg early. Given the current state of the flyweight division without a standout title challenger, this may have secured Kara-France’s ticket to a fight against Alexandre Pantoja.
The fight of the night went, no surprise, to Mateusz Gamrot and Dan Hooker, whose lightweight bout ended in a split decision. No robbery and a fight that could have gone either way, but Hooker got the nod from the judges.
The four bonus winners at UFC 305 will receive an additional $50,000 for their efforts.
