Australia has proven to Dana White and the UFC that it is worthy of more headline pay-per-view events, with UFC 305 announced for Perth this August.
The UFC in partnership with the Western Australian Government have agreed on a multiyear deal which will see the mixed martial arts organisation lock in another fight card for Perth after the success of UFC 284 last year.
It’s being reported that along with UFC 305, the organisation will also bring another additional event to the city, which ESPN reports will most likely be an “exciting UFC Fight Night” — a card one step lower than the numbered UFC events.
Early reports suggest that discussions are being held for South African Dricus du Plessis and Kiwi Israel Adesanya to headline UFC 305 in a must-see grudge match.
Fans can also expect plenty of Australian talent to be on display, similar to what we saw at the last event Perth held, with Aussie fighters set to pad the under card. There’s even some attention starting to turn onto Alexander Volkanovski who was called out by fellow fighter Dan Ige to fight in Perth.
UFC CEO Dana White announced in late-March that the organisation would be heading down under once more, stating that Australia and the city of Perth deserved another pay-per-view fight.
“Perth, I am so excited to be coming back,” White said when announcing the new multiyear deal with Western Australia.
“After a record-breaking event in 2023, I can’t wait to bring another massive pay-per-view to Western Australia.
“Perth is a world class city with some of the most passionate fight fans I’ve ever seen — UFC 305 is going to be incredible.”
Everything you need to know about UFC 305
When is UFC 305 happening?
August 18, 2024
It seems the UFC is continually delivering incredible fight cards, especially when it comes to their main events. Now, Australia is having another turn at hosting arguably the greatest fighting organisation in the world, with UFC 305 scheduled for Perth on August 18.
RAC Arena will be the venue, which may sound familiar to some, as it was the same place Alexander Volkanovski fought at back in February 2023 against Islam Makhachev at UFC 284.
Where can I watch the event?
Main Event, via Kayo, or Live at RAC Arena
Still with no official confirmation on who will be headlining the event, or even who will be on the card at all, there has been no solid information on where you will be able to watch UFC 305.
However, nearly all major combat sports events are broadcasted on Main Event via Kayo, which you don’t need a Kayo account to purchase the pay-per-view from.
The other option is to actually attend the event live in person. UFC 284 – the last fight card held at RAC Arena – broke the venue’s revenue and sporting event attendance records, proving that it is a must to go watch the UFC there.
Who will be fighting at UFC 305?
As of early-April, there has been confirmation on which fighters will be entering the octagon when UFC 305 rolls around. However, a few big names have been thrown into contention, including Australia’s own Alexander Volkanovski.
Volk is currently on his worse run of his professional career losing three of his past four fights, enticing American Dan Ige to call him out for a potential fight in Perth. Ige took to Twitter to say “Hey @alexvolkanovski if you need a tune-up fight for Perth, I’d be happy to take the challenge.”
Hey @alexvolkanovski if you need a tune-up fight for Perth, I’d be happy to take the challenge 😅🫡
— Dan Ige (@Dynamitedan808) April 1, 2024
Volkanovski has previously stated following his last fight in February that he wants an immediate shot at regaining the UFC featherweight belt that he lost, but maybe Dan Ige is the fight he needs before entering another title fight.
The main reports however entering UFC 305 is a potential grudge match between South African and UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis and Kiwi Israel Adesanya. If these two were to headline the event it would bring serious attention to Perth considering they have a highly publicised feud in the UFC community.
It started with du Plessis claiming he was the “true” African fighter, which insinuated that although Israel Adesanya was born in Nigeria, he can no longer claim to be an African fighter having grown up in New Zealand.
There was an exchange between over the course of time with du Plessis famously saying that Adesanya’s middleweight belt never went to Africa and that it only went back to New Zealand.
“Did those belts ever go to Africa? As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand,” du Plessis said.
“I’m the African fighter in the UFC…We (himself and Cameron Saaiman another UFC fighter) wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we’re African born, we’re African raised, we still reside in Africa.”
The two fighters had a face-off in the octagon last year where it all but sealed the fate of these two matching up in the not so distant future. Adesanya only poured more fuel on the fire when he outrageously stated after the face-off that he “drag his (du Plessis’s) carcass around South Africa.”
If du Plessis and Adesanya were to headline it would be one of the biggest fights of the year, and would attract many UFC fans to flock to Perth to watch the event in person. But only time will tell if this highly anticipated fight becomes a reality for UFC 305.
