Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya. Prediction and betting tips for the fight

Current form

Dricus Du Plessis is the winner of the Youth World Kickboxing Championship. In MMA, he became champion in the Extreme Fighting Championship and Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki. The South African came to Dana White's league in 2020 and has not lost a single fight yet. Stillknocks defeated Australian Robert Whittaker (technical knockout, second round) in July 2023 and won the UFC championship belt.
And six months later, he successfully defended his title in a fight with another US representative, Sean Strickland (split decision). The 30-year-old Plessy has 20 wins (nine by knockout, two by decision, nine by submission) and two losses. Drikus has a black belt in kickboxing.

Latest news

Plessy commented on Adesanya's statement, who promised to hold him accountable for trying to appropriate the title of the first African champion.

"I don't know whether I got into his head or not, but I do know that he has firmly established himself in his own head. If my goal was to get into his head, I succeeded in doing so, judging by what he says. Now not only do I haunt him, but he haunts himself. In any case, I am glad that I achieved a double effect.

"I said his fire was gone, but I don't think it is. It's just that his fire is small compared to mine. The passion and fire that I have overshadows everything, so it's hard for me to see his fire."

Interesting trends for betting

Plessy's takedown rate is 52 percent.

65 percent of Plessy's punches land on his opponent's head.

Current form

Israel Adesanya is a former Super 8 Boxing Tournament (boxing), King in the Ring, and Glory (kickboxing) champion. In MMA, he won the Australian Fighting Championship and Hex Fighting Series Middleweight titles. The Nigerian is also a former two-time UFC champion, ranked second in the division and 13th in the pound-for-pound rankings.

The Last Stylebender has lost his last two out of three fights. In his last one in September 2023, he lost to Strickland (unanimous), and before that to Brazilian Alex Pereira (knockout, fifth round). But a few months later, Adesanya was able to take revenge on the Latin American (knockout, second round). The 35-year-old Israel has 24 wins (16 by knockout, eight by decision, zero by submission) and three losses.

Latest news

Adesanya called Du Plessis a colonialist. «He’s not like Francis Ngannou, who had to cross the desert to go overseas and train. If you know Francis’s story, you can’t call him a fake African champion just because he didn’t train in Africa. This is a guy who should have died in the desert several times, but he survived. We paved the way for Dricus, and he comes out and tries to take it all for himself. I wonder where he got that from? It’s a colonialist mentality.»

Interesting trends for betting

Adesanya has finished his opponents in the first round six times.

Adesanya's strike defense stats are 56 percent.