PERTH, Australia – Dricus Du Plessis thinks Israel Adesanya wasn’t active enough vs. Sean Strickland.
Adesanya’s (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) most recent outing was a title loss to Strickland at UFC 293, where he was stunned early, then outpointed for the remainder of the fight. Many chalked it off as an off night due to Adesanya’s strength of schedule as champion.
Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) thought the same thing until he fought Strickland himself and outlasted him to become champion at UFC 297.
“I think it was an off night,” Du Plessis said at Wednesday’s UFC 305 media day. “It was very evident in terms of how he fought – just the whole fight, you could see it. But then I fought Strickland and my whole perception around that fight changed because I know first-hand experience what it’s like to fight Sean Strickland. He’s hard to hit. With Izzy, he doesn’t throw volume. He’s pinpoint accurate with his strikes – or at least he tries to be. He’s more of a move-move-move-hit. And when he fought Strickland, he missed all those shots.
“Strickland is really, really good defensively. When I fought Strickland, I immediately realized that’s what happened. I threw volume so I could catch him and I could beat him. But Israel doesn’t throw the volume, so every time he threw, he missed the shots. He had two, three maximum, and he would miss. Originally, I thought Israel had an off night, and then after fighting Strickland and going to watch that fight again, I actually think it was just Strickland that did what he does extremely well, and that style didn’t suit Israel at all.”
Du Plessis will look to find similar success to Strickland when he makes his first title defense against Adesanya in Saturday’s UFC 305 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main event at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 305.
