Middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis puts his title eon the line for the first time on Saturday in the UFC 305 main event against former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya. One fighter that will be watching the middleweight championship clash closely is former champion Robert Whittaker.
Whittaker broke down the matchup and gave his prediction for the outcome on the MMArcade podcast. Whittaker has fought both men and is on the cusp on earning another title shot.
“It’s very hard to put a hard pick on either one of them,” Whittaker said. “All we can look at is historically, like their previous fights. Dricus, his last fight against Sean Strickland, he moved forward. He put pressure on Strickland, didn’t let Strickland do that to him, shut his game down, was very aggressive, crowded that space, didn’t Strickland really find the rhythm he likes to fight in and came away with the decision win.
“Strickland, prior to that fight (with du Plessis), fought Adesanya. (He) did exactly that to Israel. He pushed into his space, didn’t allow Adesanya to utilize that dangerous space that he likes fighting in,” Whittaker continued. “He crowed him to a point where he didn’t let him have any free distancing from the fence so he could move away and be evasive because he loves fighting like that. He’s very tall. He fights very tall. He likes countering with that. He slips back. He leans back, a lot of weight on that rear leg to get away from the punches and strikes. He moves out, circles out. Strickland closed that gap, crowded that space, kept Adesanya’s back to the fence for 90 percent of the fight and beat Adesanya by a decision win.”
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In his analysis of the matchup, Whittaker seemed to be leaning toward that champion retaining his title against “The Last Stylebender.” The unknown is what has Adesanya done to prevent du Plessis from doing what Strickland accomplished.
“This fight, Dricus versus Israel, we have to look at it and think Dricus was able to, obviously styles fight fights, but Dricus was to push that plan against Strickland that Strickland was able to push against Adesanya. So, you’d have to think that Dricus is going to push that same plan, the same motive on Adesanya. The million-dollar question is, what has Izzy done in his layoff since the Strickland fight to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Whittaker said.
“If I had to make a pick, I’d say that there’s a 50 percent chance, this is my confidence here. I’m sitting on the fence, but I mean it. There’s a 50-50 odds. That’s how much I think either one could sway,” Whittaker continued. “I think there’s a 50 percent chance that Izzy kind of keeps him at the end of his jab, utilizes that spacing, doesn’t get his back put against the fence. Defends some takedowns but ultimately wins buy decision.
“I also think there’s a 50 percent chance Dricus does what he did to Strickland, pushes into that space, takes him down, wears him out, turns it into a dog fight. Doesn’t get a finish, but drags it out to the point where he’s still going to remain the champion.”
