Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis will defend his 185-pound title against former division kingpin Israel Adesanya atop the upcoming UFC 305 pay-per-view (PPV) event, recently made official for Sat., Aug. 17, 2024 at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia.
And he’ll do it as the +140 underdog.
That’s according to the bookies over at BetOnline.ag, which have Adesanya pegged as the -160 betting favorite. “Stillknocks” originally opened at +119 against -139 for “The Last Stylebender,” but money has already started trickling in for the ex-champ, and you can expect to see more movement as we get closer to fight night.
UFC 305 represents the first title defense for Du Plessis.
As for Adesanya, this marks his first UFC fight since dropping the strap to Sean Strickland late last year. “Tarzan” would be upended by Du Plessis in the UFC 297 headliner just a few months later, setting the stage for the upcoming (and long overdue) Adesanya fight, which was originally planned for UFC 293.
Expect more UFC 305 fight card announcements in the coming weeks.