UFC 305: 'Embarrassed and annoyed' Israel Adesanya will be 'very dangerous' for Dricus du Plessis - Michael Bisping

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Published 20/06/2024 at 11:50 GMT

UFC 305 in Perth, Australia will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya. TNT Sports expert Michael Bisping thinks Adesanya will be “very dangerous” as he looks to return to form. Bisping also spoke about how Adesanya's active schedule might have taken its toll, while TNT Sports expert Nick Peet has a "million dollar question" ahead of the fight.

Michael Bisping expects an “embarrassed and annoyed” Israel Adesanya to be a “very dangerous” opponent for Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305.

Adesanya and Du Plessis are set to face off in a middleweight title fight in the event in Perth, Australia on August 17, live on TNT Sports.

It will be Adesanya’s first fight since losing the middleweight title to Sean Strickland in September.

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It is the longest Adesanya has been away from the Octagon since his UFC debut in 2018.

“He has gone away and he will be embarrassed, annoyed, every time he sees these people competing for his belt, making money, taking digs at him, taking away his greatness,” said TNT Sports expert Bisping about Adesanya on Fight Week.

“That stuff keeps you up at night. It’s not like he’s injured, the only damage he has had is mentally.

“I think he will come back and be very dangerous.”

Adesanya is bidding to become the first three-time middleweight champion in UFC history.

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Prior to his loss to Strickland, he was one of the more active fighters in the UFC and Bisping thinks that might have taken its toll.

“The reality is that going from fight camp to fight camp, championship to championship, that amount of pressure, I was never that guy, but I assume you start to take it for granted and rest on your laurels a little bit.

“The ego and the arrogance can maybe start to be detrimental, when you are beating everybody you maybe start to think ‘I don’t need to get up at 6am and have that morning run, I don’t need to bring in special training partners’.

“The body can also only take so much. Being over-trained is worse than being under-trained in preparation for a fight. Those five-round fight camps really take it out of you.”

Du Plessis won the middleweight title in January with victory over Strickland.

He will be defending the belt for the first time when he faces Adesanya.

Although UFC welterweight title contender Belal Muhammad has said he thinks Du Plessis “sucks”, that is not an assessment that Bisping agrees with.

“Dricus du Plessis, the way he ran through the middleweight division, stopping Darren Till - people forget how special he was - the fight with Derek Brunson, the stoppage of Robert Whittaker, and the fight with Sean Strickland. He was pushing the pace, he was swinging, he was putting together nasty combinations.

“Dricus du Plessis is one thing you can count on, you can count on him showing up 100 per cent all singing, all dancing, looking for the stoppage every time.

Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa reacts after his victory against Sean Strickland in a UFC middleweight championship bout during the UFC 297 event at Scotiabank Arena on January 20, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario

Image credit: Getty Images

“Du Plessis v Adesanya is the fight we all want to see and we have been waiting for it for a long time and it’s a fresh challenge for both men. I am very excited.”

TNT Sports expert Nick Peet is keen to see whether Adesanya will be better than his “lacklustre” showing in defeat to Strickland last time out.

“For me that is the million dollar question: did Adesanya ring the UFC and say ‘give me this opportunity’ or did the UFC ring Adesanya? I think that’s important because he looked burned out and flat.

“When he lost his belt to Strickland he was gun shy, on the back foot, it was a very lacklustre, surrendering of the championship. As long as that guy doesn’t turn up in Perth then great, I am all for him being back, the sport is better when he is firing on all cylinders.

“I can see it being something quite special but Izzy has to turn up because if he doesn’t then Dricus will run him over.”

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