UFC 305 Preview
The UFC is invading the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on Saturday, August 17th for UFC 305. The main event will be a heated battle for the middleweight championship between champion Dricus du Plessis and former two-time champion Israel Adesanya.
Du Plessis controversially won the title in his last fight by split decision over Sean Strickland at UFC 297. While the result has been debated, Du Plessis proved that he could endure a back-and-forth fight over five rounds. He has not lost a fight since 2018 and is 7-0 in the UFC.
UFC fans and critics have talked about what it means for Adesanya’s legacy to become a three-time champion. Du Plessis commented, “With a guy like Adesanya, he’s seen it all and achieved it all so now you can go ‘Well, now you’re the first three-time UFC champion’ but that just means he lost the belt twice,” said the champion.
“It’s not an achievement, it’s just a record that is on record, it’s not an achievement for a person but what is there left for the man in this sport?”
While the champion downplayed his challenger, he does have respect for him. “His career can’t be argued,” Du Plessis said. “He’s one of the greatest fighters ever. Not in the middleweight division, not in the UFC, but in MMA, one of the best to ever do it. While he’s still in the organization, I’m holding the belt, which makes it pretty evident that there’s something special [about me] and there’s something different.”
He continued, “There’s definitely that extra motivation defending this title, and in a fight of this magnitude. It’s not my first headliner. My previous one I was a contender. As a champion it makes no difference. But the magnitude of this fight, myself vs Adesanya, this fight’s been in the making for almost two years.”
Du Plessis and Adesanya have had a public display of bad blood between one another, but Du Plessis responded that it might be one-sided.
“It’s never, ever personal,” Du Plessis said. “It never has been, and it never will be. There’s nothing that can be said, there’s nothing that can be done that’s going to have an effect on me, mentally or emotionally. It’s strictly business when I get in there. I go out there and I’m mentally unbreakable. That’s my biggest attribute. I go out there and I see it for what it is. There’s no insult, there’s nothing anybody can say. He’s obviously emotional going in, but I’m not.”
The champion went on to say, “When it’s a press conference, I answer the question that’s given to me, and if my opponent is treating me with respect, then I will return the favor. But if you’re going to try to push me around, bully me on that mic, I will do to you exactly what I will do in the fight: I will not allow it. I think that is a big key for me and a big weapon that I have is to be able to shut down anything that happened previously, anything that happens outside the Octagon and focusing on the task at hand, and that’s winning the fight.”
Du Plessis believes he is a bad matchup for Adesanya. “When it comes to the way I fight, every fight is different. It’s unorthodox, but when I’m doing it, I know exactly why I’m doing it. And what I’m doing. It’s hard to figure that out, because to find somebody to imitate my style, which I’ve heard is a very weird style, is really hard to do. What makes myself different is I don’t try to fight like anybody else. I don’t try to adhere to the norm of this is how you should look, because that’s the critique I’ve been getting for my whole UFC career, that it doesn’t look right. A gorilla on roller skates is what somebody said.”
The South African fighter concluded with a prediction, “I know his prediction was a first-round knockout,” Du Plessis said. “In that case, he needs to come forward and make it a dog fight, which I doubt and which I would love. If that Izzy shows up, this fight’s not going past round two. If the Izzy shows up that we’ve been seeing, I’ll be able to get him out of there in three rounds, for sure.”
Adesanya’s last fight was a title loss to Strickland at UFC 293 last September. Many pundits believe the loss is one of the biggest title fight upsets of all-time. Despite being on the receiving end of what is considered a bad loss, Adesanya has put together a hall of fame career. He now has the chance to become just the second fighter in UFC history to become a three-time champion in the same division, along side Hall of Fame Randy Couture
The former champion admitted that after the loss to Strickland he needed a break. While he led many fans and critics to believe it would be longer than a year, he explained why. "I had to go and get my body right, get my mind right ... I was the most active champion in UFC history, five fights in 18 months, it takes a toll on the body and the mind. So it was just good to remove myself from all of that and just live the Izzy life,’ Adesanya said.
"I'm human at the end of the day, and there is only so much I can do and there is only so much I can put my body through. So I needed to take a break and let my body heal."
Adesanya wants to convince everyone that he is fully back. "[I'm] coming for heads. Belts gather up dust, they rust," Adesanya said. "But taking away someone's name, being a loss on their record that sticks, that's what I'm doing. So I'm taking these guys out while I'm still here and I can feel like 'I beat that guy'."
He concluded by saying he is not focused on making history or winning the title, but rather he is focused on the champion himself. "It would be history, I guess, but I'm not really what I'm focused on, I'm focused on Dricus," he said. "I just have to focus on Dricus because if I focus on him, everything else follows, everything else follows.
"I don't focus on the belt, I don't focus on the accolades, I just focus on taking his head off and the rest will follow."
UFC President Dana White confirmed that the winner of this fight will have a rematch with former champion Sean Strickland. “Sean Strickland right now is the No. 1-ranked Middleweight in the world and the answer is yes,” White said.
Adesanya responded by saying, "Oh, really? Oh nice," Adesanya said. "OK, cool. That's nice, I didn't think the UFC would announce it like that but I thought maybe [Robert] Whittaker vs. Khamzat [Chimaev]."
"I have to think about it, I like it. I don't mind it, I like it. Cool."
The rest of the main card:
#4 Kai Kara France vs. #7 Steve Erceg
Lightweight - #5 Mateusz Gamrot vs. #11 Dan Hooker
Heavyweight - #10 Tai Tuivasa vs. #12 Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Welterweight - Li Jingliang vs. Carlos Prates
The ESPN+ Prelims:
Heavyweight - Junior Tafa vs. Valter Walker
Featherweight - Joshua Culibao vs. Ricardo Ramos
Women's Flyweight - Casey O'Neill vs. Luana Santos
Featherweight - Jack Jenkins vs. Herbert Burns
Early Prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass:
Lightweight - Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes
Welterweight - Song Kenan vs. Ricky Glenn
Flyweight - Stewart Nicoll vs. Jesús Santos Aguilar
