With the middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya confirmed for UFC 305, DC believes the bookies might be wrong.
It’s a debate that will rage all the way up until the opening bell of their UFC 305 main event in Perth, Western Australia – but has Dricus du Plessis done enough on his route to world title success to merit being the favorite over such a seasoned superstar?
Daniel Cormier believes ‘Stillknocks’ should be the favorite over Adesanya
Shortly after the middleweight title fight for UFC 305 was confirmed, it was reported that Israel Adesanya had opened as the slight favorite over champion Dricus du Plessis.
Whilst it may be a rather rare occurrence for a UFC champion to open as the underdog against an upcoming challenger, this certainly won’t faze ‘Stillknocks’ in the slightest.
In fact, he also opened as an underdog against both Robert Whittaker and Sean Strickland en route to his middleweight championship glory; and we all know how those bouts turned out for the South African brawler.
Consequently, there are also those within the MMA community who believe the UFC champion should actually be the favorite over Israel Adesanya, including former double champion Daniel Cormier.
Speaking via the ESPN MMA YouTube channel prior to UFC Saudi Arabia, Cormier argued that the South African’s unorthodox style could be the key factor in getting his hand raised in Perth, Australia.
“Dricus du Plessis does things differently, and I have been called a hater of his style, but he has won, and won, and won. [To the point where] Now, I believe that he goes into the fight with Adesanya as the favorite to retain his championship.
“This young man can wrestle, he can strike, [and] he has great cardio,” said Cormier, before warning that we might be about to witness a far more ferocious Adesanya than many expect.
“I love this one [and] I’m messy, so I love mess. I love when things aren’t clean, I love when they aren’t hugging each other before they go in the octagon – and these two dudes aren’t hugging each other,” he acknowledged.
“In Israel Adesanya, you have one of the greatest middleweights of all time who wants nothing more than to become champion again…
“Izzy thrives in tough situations; he dominated Paulo Costa so quickly because he was mad at him – he doesn’t like Dricus du Plessis and I’m excited to see that angry Izzy.”
Former opponent shares prediction for UFC 305 title fight
Cormier isn’t the only one who believes that Dricus du Plessis is being overlooked by many fans and pundits, including a former opponent of both ‘Stylebender’ and ‘Stillknocks’, Robert Whittaker.
“I think stylistically, Dricus has a good shot – I think he has a good chance,” Whittaker told MainEvent prior to his first-round knockout victory over Ikram Aliskerov at UFC Saudi Arabia.
“We saw the pressure that Dricus was able to push on Sean, who’s a pressure fighter, and have a lot of success with that – we saw Sean pressure Izzy and have a lot of success with that [too]… Doing MMA math, you would think that Dricus gets his hand raised but that’s not how fights roll out.”
‘The Reaper’ expanded slightly on this prediction in a later interview with MMAJunkie, explaining how he’s leaning towards the South African because of that awkward, unorthodox style of ‘Stillknocks’.
“I think what he displayed in his fight against Sean Strickland, that forward pressure and that awkward, unorthodox style – especially with the success Sean had doing that to Izzy – I think that’s a recipe to beat Adesanya.”
Dricus du Plessis vs Israel Adesanya is scheduled for August 17 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia for UFC 305.