‘DC’ doesn’t know where Adesanya’s career goes if he loses to Dricus Du Plessis in Perth, Australia this weekend at UFC 305.
Former UFC double champ Daniel Cormier believes Saturday’s UFC 305 title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya is the most important fight of “The Last Stylebender’s” career.
Cormier is in Perth, Australia to commentate the pivotal middleweight title fight between Du Plessis and Adesanya. Izzy has a chance to become one of the few three-time UFC champions in history — a stat that Du Plessis has pointed out isn’t exactly a positive one. If he fails on Saturday night and falls to “Stillknocks,” where does that leave the UFC superstar?
“I think Izzy needs to win, man. He’s got to win this fight,” Cormier said in an interview with Submission Radio. “Because I don’t know what his career looks like for a guy like Israel Adesanya if he isn’t in the title reign.”
“Motivation is a tricky thing. Especially for a guy that seems to have everything. All the money, all the titles. He’s got the fame. He’s got everything. Getting up to fight for a championship again is easier than saying, ‘I’m just going to fight on a pay-per-view and I might be the co-main event.’ I don’t know if that’s in Izzy’s cards anymore. I think it’s titles. And if it’s not titles, it’s getting back to titles. But I don’t know that he has that run in him. And I don’t know if he should have to have that run in him, because he’s done so much already.”
“It’s vital that he wins on Saturday,” DC concluded.
The big question: which Izzy will we see on Saturday? The one who thundered through the middleweight division en route to his first title, or the one who seemed unable to outpoint Sean Strickland back in September 2023, the last time we saw him compete? This is the longest break we’ve seen Adesanya take since he arrived in the UFC, and his teammates have talked about him healing up a multitude of nagging injuries that could make a difference. But the time off was definitely needed, according to Cormier.
“This dude carried a heavy schedule, man,” he said. “His schedule was crazy. They rode him. They rode him through the pandemic. They rode him after the pandemic, and he always showed up. So, he continued to fight and make a ton of money, but you need a break. And it feels like he’s refreshed and excited again to have the opportunity to go out and fight and try to become champion.”
“Fighters are monsters,” Cormier continued. “Because they have such strong minds, they convince themselves that they‘re okay. When in reality, they’re not. But I don’t know that it was Izzy’s body that was run down as it was probably hard mentally.”
“You’re always getting ready to fight the most dangerous, scariest guy in the world, every time when you’re the champion. And he did that time and time and time again. He had one of the greatest title reigns we’ve seen in a long time. And I think this break will serve him well. I’m not saying he’s going to win because of it. But I think he’ll be better in the octagon than last time because he’s able to reset. It’s hard to carry that schedule. But Dricus is tough. He’s very good.”
Bookies have Adesanya and Du Plessis even at -110, which tells you just how much uncertainty surrounds this grudge match between the two African fighters. All answers will be given when the cage door swings shut on Sunday afternoon in Australia (Saturday night for those of us living in North America) and reality sweeps away speculation, leaving only one man standing.