Michael Bisping he thinks Dricus Du Plessis lit a fire under Israel Adesanya.
Middleweight champion Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) plans to make his first title defense against former champion Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) in the main event of UFC 305 on 17 August, at the RAC Arena, in Perth. , Australia (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Du Plessis and Adesanya traded barbs during Tuesday’s UFC 305 press conference, with Du Plessis saying afterward that Adesanya is “trying to convince himself that he still wants to be here.”
“These are tough words for Israel Adesanya to hear, and for Israel, this will motivate him greatly,” Bisping said in his Youtube channel. “This will irritate him. This will grind your gears.
“That’s going to get into his head. This will force him to train hard, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see one of the most dangerous and nasty versions of Israel Adesanya we’ve ever seen.”
The last time Adesanya suffered a major defeat was a TKO to Alex Pereira in the middleweight title fight at UFC 281. He was able to avenge his loss in emphatic fashion by knocking out Pereira to regain his belt at UFC 287. He then lost the title. in a surprise upset to Sean Strickland at UFC 293.
Since then, Pereira’s career has flourished. He moved up to light heavyweight and has already made two title defenses. Bisping thinks this must be on Adesanya’s mind as well.
“The last time he embarrassed himself against Alex Pereira, what did he do? He came back and knocked out Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira – the (current) bell ringer, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters, two-weight champion and the biggest star in all of mixed martial arts,” Bisping said.
“That’s another thing: don’t think this isn’t pissing Izzy off too. Course is. Izzy was the man. Now he has fallen. Someone else took his belt. Her old opponent, her old rival, her old enemy is now who Izzy was. he is now the biggest star in the sport. Everyone is loving the guy. This is also irritating Izzy. So, like I said, I think he’s going to be very, very dangerous.”
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to UFC 305.
