UFC 305: Du Plessis vs. Adesanya

UFC 305
Du Plessis vs. Adesanya
Saturday, August 17
RAC Arena - Perth, Western Australia

The UFC returns to Perth on August 17th. Recall that Islam Makhachev beat Alexander Volkanowski here last year, at UFC 284. That was a great night and a stacked UFC 305 card is also filled with exciting match-ups. Many of the top Australian fighters will be partaking. I've taken a closer look at the biggest one, Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya for the middleweight belt. In addition to providing the backstory and previewing the fight I've also given an option on how to play it.  

The middleweight championship of the world will be up for grabs in Perth, on Saturday. Du Plessis (21-2) is the champion. Adesanya (24-3), the former champ, is the betting favorite. You may remember that Adensaya lost the belt to Strickland. Then Du Plessis beat Strickland, in a very close split decision. Now, "The Last Stylebender" wants his belt back. 

There's some genuine bad blood between these guys. After Du Plessis defeated Robert Whittaker last summer, Adesnaya got into the ring and had some pretty harsh words for Du Plessis. If you didn't know the back-story, Adesanya's rant wouldn't have made any sense. Among the comments which Adesanya made was: "I don't need a DNA test, I don't need a [DNA test] to know where I'm from. If they do a [DNA test] it'll say I'm from Nigeria. Do a DNA test, it'll tell you where you're from."

That was actually in reply to something which Du Plessis had said several weeks earlier where he talked about bringing the belt back to Africa and becoming the first true African champion. Of course, that angered the likes of Ngannou, Usman and Adesanya, all former champions who were born in Africa. (Du Plesis reasoned that all three of those previous African champions had left Africa by the time they won the belt.) 

Adesanya replied: “He’ll never understand that because he lives behind the f*cking gates of his privileged life in South Africa, and he’s able to do that there. So someone like Francis, who had to cross the desert to go overseas to go train – if you know Francis’ story, you can’t call him not a real African champion because he didn’t train in Africa. Like, bro – are you f*cking kidding? The guy got sent back out to the desert six, seven times to go die, and he survived.”

Adesanya added that he, Ngannou and Usman are the very reason why Du Plessis had the opportunity to become champion: “Even without Francis being champion, without myself being champion, without Kamaru being champion, he would have never been champion. We paved the way for him, and then he comes out there and tries to take it all for himself. I wonder where he got that from. What kind of mindset is that, like, ‘Oh, I see this and I want it all for myself’?

"What kind of mindset is it that you see three African champions and you’re going to be the fourth one? You could have said it would be a great honor to be out of the legends of African champions that have been in the UFC. He tries to take it all for himself. That’s a colonist mindset. He doesn’t understand the error of his ways, but I will show him the way. … Dricus will always be an African champion, but he’ll never be one of the three kings.”

Du Plesis has an unorthodox style of fighting. A well-rounded fighter, he's unpredictable. He has 10 KO/TKO wins and nine submissions. He's physically strong and applies a lot of pressure. Only two of his 23 fights have gone the distance. Adesanya, three inches taller, is the more dangerous striker. He's never submitted anyone but has 16 KO/TKO victories to his credit. He's 8-2 when the fight gets decided by the judges. Adesanya has lost 2 of his last 3 fights. Du Plesis has won 9 straight. 

Longtime Adesanya rival Alex Pereira provided his opinion of the fight: “[People] asked me about Adesanya and du Plessis, I said I don’t see Adesanya losing ... It’s what I think. I don’t think he loses this fight. I hope he wins because he has a beautiful story. I think he has to continue his story.”

Prediction: Du Plessis was fortunate to get the victory against Strickland and he didn't do himself any favors with his comments about being the true African champion. I agree with Pereira that I don't see an angry Adesanya losing. Lay the reasonable price with the former champ. Play on Adesanya