Rap superstar “Drake” is an active bettor on UFC fights and regularly makes headlines for his “insane” wagers. Some of them pay off, like the $500,000 he gambled on Jon Jones ahead of the UFC 285 pay-per-view (PPV) earlier this month in Las Vegas.
Some of them don’t, including the massive $2 million he lost by picking Israel Adesanya to defeat longtime kickboxing rival Alex Pereira at UFC 281 last Nov. in New York. That’s why “Poatan” wants Drake to doublecheck his betting slip ahead of UFC 287.
@Drake I hope this time you bet on the right person pic.twitter.com/8M6EsRW0ko
— Alex “Poatan” Pereira (@AlexPereiraUFC) March 15, 2023
Adesanya opened as a small betting favorite.
“The Last Stylebender” was bested by Pereira on the kickboxing circuit — twice — before falling to the Brazilian at UFC 281 late last year. Adesanya fans were quick to denounce the stoppage and claimed referee incompetence helped “Poatan” capture the crown.
Adesanya will have the chance to prove them right in just a few weeks.
“This is my shot, and this is why I’m putting everything into this,” Adesanya told The Mac Life. “This is a part of my story. In any story, there are valleys. Also for him, one man’s hero is another man’s villain. If you look at his life from his point of view, I’m the villain. I’m the guy – the underdog that he beat. I went to the UFC, he chased me, got me, beat me. So this is my story now. This is my time for his story.”
UFC 287, scheduled for Sat., April 8, 2023 at Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, Florida, also features the welterweight showdown between former title challengers Jorge Masvidal and Gilbert Burns. Elsewhere on the card, Christian Rodriguez collides with Raul Rosas Jr. at bantamweight.
See the rest of the UFC 287 fight card and PPV lineup here.