Li Jingliang will return to the octagon after a long injury hiatus to fight Carlos Prates at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, on August 17, with the event headlined by a middleweight title bout between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.
Li Jingliang is set to re-enter the octagon after a lengthy recovery. He’ll face the rising welterweight Carlos Prates at UFC 305 on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia.
Multiple sources confirmed this news to MMA Fighting following a report from UFC partner Weibo.
Jingliang (19-8) last fought in September 2022. Initially, he was scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson but ended up facing Daniel Rodriguez instead.
That match resulted in a controversial split decision loss for Jingliang. Following that, he was supposed to fight Michael Chiesa in April 2023 but suffered a spine injury.
Prates (19-6) has been on a roll, improving to 2-0 in the UFC with a knockout over Charles Radtke in June. Both of his first-round finishes earned him Performance of the Night bonuses.
Interestingly, Prates expressed his desire to compete in Perth next. Why? To visit his daughter who lives in Australia.
UFC 305 will be broadcast live on pay-per-view. The main event features a championship showdown between middleweight king Dricus Du Plessis and former champion Israel Adesanya.
In the co-main event, one-time flyweight title contender Steve Erceg will battle Kai Kara-France. It’s an Australia vs New Zealand clash!
Damon Martin contributed to this report.