Joe Rogan couldn’t believe what he saw at UFC 305.
On Saturday night, Israel Adesanya returned to the Octagon determined to take back the middleweight title and kickstart his third reign. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be as reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis shockingly finished the fight in the fourth round, landing a labored shot on ‘The Last Stylebender’ before securing a submission via rear-naked choke.
Rogan, who was joined by ex-UFC heavyweight fighter Brendan Schaub and others for his UFC 305 fight companion live stream, was left without words immediately following the finish, opting to spin around in his chair while holding his head.
Joe Rogan’s reaction to Dricus Du Plessis submitting Israel Adesanya at #UFC305
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) August 18, 2024
“Oh, Izzy just hit a beautiful combination. He stunned him. Dricus is in real trouble,” Joe Rogan said.
“This is the stylebender of old, kids… It’s also a guy [Du Plessis] that’s compromised. You’ve been beating him up and chipping away at him. And now you’re fresher and he’s dying. He’s taking big, lunging shots at you…”
“Oh! Izzy caught him with that right hand. Oh, boy. Izzy’s just f***ing up his body, too… He’s got the timing down.”
“Dude, dude, dude. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. He hurt him, dude. He hurt him.”
After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, the Joe Rogan Experience host declared that “Dricus is a f*cking animal dude.” In agreement, Schaub exclaimed: “Tough motherf*cker.”
Rogan added, “I was saying, those punches, even though he’s exhausted, you can’t be in those exchanges. You’re gonna get clipped. If you get clipped, you’re in real trouble. F*ck, he got hit with those big right hands, man. He got rocked with those right hands.”
The Champ needs a beer 😅@DricusDuPlessis is ready to celebrate his first title defense! #UFC305 pic.twitter.com/1ZSHPtKsBe
— UFC (@ufc) August 18, 2024
Israel Adesanya Attempts to Explain Fight-Ending Sequence at UFC 305
Despite the devastating loss, Adesanya was in good spirits during the UFC 305 post-fight press conference, cracking jokes and making it clear that he was not going anywhere despite rumors of a potential retirement.
As for the fight-ending sequence, it was all still a bit of a blur for the ‘Stylebender.’
“For me, I have to watch it again because I don’t think I was rocked,” Adesanya said. “I think I slipped and I was like, ‘What the f*ck was that?’ and then he was trying to catch me as I was exiting. I can’t remember how he took me down because everything in me is always a blur. It’s still fresh, it just happened 20, 30 minutes ago.
“I tried to fight the top hand, and I don’t know what mistake I made because I tried to turn into him, but then he got on my back because I was using the fence maybe? He switched to a Gable grip and then I wasn’t able to separate the hands like I wanted to. I have to watch it properly to really see what happened, but I felt great. He didn’t really surprise me because I knew he was tough.”
After losing back-to-back title fights and two of his last three, Adesanya will have some work to do in the division before he can earn himself another shot at 185-pound gold.
Watch Adesanya’s full post-fight press appearance below:
