Kangaroos, crocodiles and a gigantic title fight. What more could you ask for? On Saturday 17th August, the UFC heads down under to Perth, Australia for a third time to host a blockbuster card, headlined by the current UFC middleweight champion: Dricus Du Plessis and challenging him is the former middleweight champion: Israel Adesanya.
The last time we saw Israel Adesanya was when he lost his title and convincingly beaten by Sean Strickland around a year ago at UFC 293. Not long later; Dricus Du Plessis clinched the title from Sean in a close fight at the start of 2024.
Dricus and Adesanya haven’t fought each other before in their careers but they have trained and sparred together years ago at the Tiger Muay Thai gym in Phuket, Thailand. However, what really draws the fans’ attention is the bad blood between these two fighters. This tension has stemmed from Dricus Du Plessis’ comments that he’ll be the (real) “African champion” subsequently dismissing Kamaru Usman, Francis Ngannou and Israel Adesanya as true representatives of Africa due to them leaving Africa and not training there. This fuelled a lot of fury from Adesanya resulting in a face-off between the two at UFC 290 when Dricus finished Robert Whittaker.
Although the fight between them didn’t materialise then, it has materialised now and emotions aside this is a fascinating contest. Dricus seems to have the strength and grappling advantage whereas Adesanya appears to have the speed and striking advantage.
However, both fighters have rounded out their skill sets over the years, so going into this fight you have to ask, can Adesanya use his kickboxing experience to hurt Dricus on the feet? Can Dricus use his wrestling and jiu-jitsu to control and finish Adesanya on the ground? Perhaps we could see a surprise submission from Adesanya or Dricus catching him with a knockout shot? The UFC 305 main event raises so many questions and in the early hours of Sunday 18th August, we’ll see if we can get any answers. Tune in.
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