The UFC is set to go ‘Down Under’ this weekend as the promotion returns to Australia for a PPV packed with regional talent and headlined by a mouth-watering title fight for the middleweight championship.
Whilst the upcoming PPV in Perth sadly won’t feature former champion Alexander Volkanovski, the fan-favorite featherweight will be cageside for when the middleweight title gets put up for grabs; with ‘The Great’ now predicting a stunning finish in the main event.
Alexander Volkanovski shares his official UFC 305 main event prediction
Despite coming off a shock decision loss to Sean Strickland and not having fought for almost a whole year, Volkanovski expects to see a new and improved version of Israel Adesanya in Perth.
Breaking down the main card of UFC 305 via his official YouTube channel, the iconic featherweight teased that when the time comes for the cage door to be locked behind him, ‘The Last Stylebender’ will be in prime position to put on a performance for the ages.
“I’m expecting a performance from Israel Adesanya, a proper performance like you’ve seen [in] the Paulo Costa [fight] where he goes out and just does it in impressive fashion.
“Dricus is very awkward, unorthodox and he’s got awkward pressure, which is very hard for people to deal with, and we’ve seen awkward pressure from Strickland give Izzy problems, but that doesn’t happen to Izzy twice.”
The former UFC champion argued that whilst Adesanya would have likely been a “little bit surprised by the defensive pressure from Strickland” in his last title fight outing, he doesn’t expect lightning to strike twice in that regard.
“I don’t think there’s any surprises this time… He’s going to be ready – I think Israel Adesanya is going to put on that type of performance where he gets a crazy finish and that’s saying something because Dricus is no joke.
“Izzy has to be careful of Dricus trying to take him down because I reckon, he’s going to have that freakish strength, he’s got good D’Arces and good chokes as well so you’re going to have to be careful.”
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That’s true, while Dricus Du Plessis has won four of his seven UFC fights via KO/TKO, including an ever-impressive stoppage win over Robert Whittaker, the South African brawler does actually have more career wins via submission (10) than knockout (9).
Yet given both his time away from the attritional nature of high-level competition and a renewed sense of motivation to reclaim his 185lb title, many fans are joining Volkanovski in predicting that Adesanya is set to earn his sixth KO/TKO win in the UFC.
“I feel like something big is coming, I mean a big finish – highlight real Izzy… That type of finish that we’re going to see, which is going to be huge and puts him right back where he was not that long ago.”
Dan Hooker teases Adesanya has a ‘newfound power’ to show off at UFC 305
Alexander Volkanovski isn’t the only one who’s expecting both a dominant performance and a highlight-reel finish from ‘Stylebender’, with CKB teammate Dan Hooker teasing that Adesanya is looking ‘scary’ in his new frame.
“He’s gone away, fixed all those injuries and little niggles he was carrying around and he’s been pumping the weights, and he’s came back just looking scary mate,” he told Sporting News Australia, even admitting that “I don’t even want to spar the bloke anymore.
“He’s hitting harder than he’s ever been hitting, he’s got some kind of new strength and power that I’ve never seen [before] – yeah, he’s scary, he’s scary-looking right now.
“Him having that time to go away and pack on a bit more weight [and] add a bit more size to his frame has obviously really positively impacted his performance.”
Hooker noted that he believes Adesanya wasn’t putting 100% effort into his fight with Sean Strickland, but that MMA fans are about to witness a different beast come Saturday night.
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“He wasn’t really trying against Strickland and to see him back now, and the shape he’s in at the moment, and the way he’s hitting… I’m just excited, I’m pretty confident he’ll get the job done there.”
Adesanya vs Du Plessis headlines UFC 305, live from the RAC Arena in Perth on Saturday, August 17.
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