UFC 305 storylines: Can Adesanya reclaim the middleweight crown? - ESPN

There's something special about a mixed martial arts event Down Under.

Maybe it's the time warp a North American fan experiences while watching fights on TV on a Saturday night and realizing that they're taking place the following morning, local time. That's about as disorienting as being cageside in Australia and knowing that fans halfway around the world are watching the fisticuffs live… last night.

Or maybe it's something else that makes watching MMA fights in Australia feel so offbeat. Perhaps it is the fights themselves, which often have multiple exclamation points attached. Anyone following the sport for several years has witnessed the reality twists that can emanate from cage fights in this corner of the Southern Hemisphere.

Mark Hunt and Antonio «Bigfoot» Silva inflicted a career's worth of heavyweight damage on each other during one unforgettable night in Brisbane in 2013. A record-setting evening (morning?) in Sydney a year later, with 11 fights and 11 finishes. And, of course, Holly Holm kicking Ronda Rousey off her high horse at UFC 193 in 2015 in Melbourne. That event established a company attendance record that stood until the Octagon was brought back to Melbourne in 2019 and 57,127 filled Marvel Stadium to watch Israel Adesanya knock out Robert Whittaker and become middleweight champion.

When the eight-sided cage returns to Australia on Saturday, the former two-time champ will challenge Dricus Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 305 in Perth. On the line will be not just a shiny strap but the pride of a continent 5,000 miles away, as both fighters are rooted in Africa, though with far different life experiences.

That's the genesis of just one of several intriguing storylines that will play out this