When former UFC champion who has fought both Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis picked the tougher man inside the octagon
Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis are waiting to lock horns at UFC 305 in Australia. Meanwhile, Sean Strickland, who's faced both fighters in the past, believes the South African is a more difficult puzzle to solve in the octagon than the Nigerian-born Kiwi.
'Tarzan' fought du Plessis for the middleweight title at UFC 297, and while the American lost the decision, many fans seemed to believe he had won the fight. At the post-fight press conference, the 33-year-old gave the South African his props for grinding down five rounds with him.
He said:
"I think he [Dricus du Plessis] is harder to fight than Izzy [Israel Adesanya]"
Israel Adesanya will get a "freaky" finish against Dricus du Plessis, says Alexander Volkanovski
As Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis prepare to go all out at UFC 305 in Perth, former featherweight champion Alexander Volkonovski has predicted that the 'The Last Stylebender' will produce a spectacular finish to reclaim gold.
Volkanovski foresees the Nigerian-born Kiwi showcasing his artistic arsenal against the unyieldingly "awkward" du Plessis to unleash something wild. 'The Great' acknowledges the threat posed by the South African but believes that the City Kickboxing student's creative arsenal and astonishing power would be too much for 'Stillknocks'.
He said:
"I think he's [Israel Adesanya] expecting an awkward fighter to be putting the pressure on him and I think he's going to be ready to capitalize on that. And that's what I mean by getting a finish, I mean like you coming in and doing all this sort of stuff and him just doing his freaky sort of stuff, leaning back, boom, boom sort of stuff. Sort of like a Rob[ert] Whittaker type of finish."
The former featherweight champion added:
"You shouldn't be in positions like this and knocking people out. That's just how good Izzy is, and I think that guy turns up UFC 305 main event. I think Israel Adesanya is going to put on that type of performance, where he goes out and gets a crazy finish, and that's saying something because Dricus is no joke."
Check out Alexander Volkanovski's prediction for the UFC 305 main event (22:34):
Israel Adesanya (24-3-0) will clash with Dricus du Plessis (21-2-0) to regain the middleweight title he lost the last time the UFC was in Australia. As per DraftKings, the former champ is the betting favorite at -130 over the current champion, who's going in as the underdog at +110.
The event will take place on Aug. 17 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.