3 keys to victory for Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya at UFC 305

UFC 305 is officially happening in Perth, Australia at the RAC Arena on August 17. A high-level main event will headline the card as Dricus Du Plessis, the new middleweight champion, will defend his title against No. 2 ranked Israel Adesanya, the former, dominant middleweight champion. These are two of the best fighters in the middleweight division, and they have had bad blood with each other for a while. Their elite skills and dislike for each other will turn this fight into an absolute war in front of an electrifying, Australian crowd. This is a 50/50 fight as both fighters have solid keys to victory for this title fight.

3 key's to victory for Dricus Du Plessis

1. Keep consistent pressure

Du Plessis loves to pressure his opponents, and he thrives on moving his opponents backward. Adesanya is perfectly content fighting off the backfoot most of the time, as he likes picking his opponents apart with leg kicks and punches from a long range. That can be part of Adesanya's benefit, as he can be good at outclassing his opponents in the stand-up or finding knockouts by counterpunching. It can also be part of his downfall, as seen in his last title fight with Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September 2023. That was probably the biggest upset of 2023 as Adesanya let Strickland walk him down for all five rounds, while he became the first fighter to drop Adesanya in his MMA career.

Strickland later ended up losing his title to Du Plessis at UFC 297 in January 2024 by split decision. Du Plessis won by out-pressuring Strickland, landing more significant strikes, and getting solid takedowns in. He beat Brad Tavares with a similar pace to a decision, and his pace caused him to find a knockout victory over Robert Whittaker. If Du Plessis can consistently keep Adesanya on the back foot while being defensively responsible, he could knock him out, keeping his title. While being durable, Du Plessis also possesses a good high guard, which allows him to slip and block punches coming his way, which can assist in his game plans of pressure.

2. Check the leg kicks

While his team can be good at game planning, Du Plessis would be smart if he prepared for checking leg kicks for this fight. The fighters who defeated Adesanya were able to win by checking calf kicks. That includes Jan Blachowicz, Alex Pereira, and Strickland. By checking calf kicks, those fighters took away a crucial part of what makes Adesanya successful, winning fights. That makes it easier for fighters to pressure Adesanya and out-strike him. Du Plessis can have similar success with checking calf kicks, but he could have an easier time finding a finish, whether it is on the ground or stand-up.

3. Wrestle

Du Plessis can win in the stand-up, but wrestling would be his best bet in this fight. While Adesanya is the better striker, this is his first fight against a fighter with a real submission threat. 10 of Du Plessis's 21 career wins have been won by submission. Adesanya has been put in some bad wrestling spots in his career, where he gave his back to fighters such as Whittaker and Marvin Vettori. If a more skilled submission artist, such as Du Plessis, had those positions, he could have easily found a submission there. While Adesanya may have improved since those fights in wrestling, it could still be worth a try for Du Plessis to become the first fighter to submit Adesanya, as wrestling is the area where he could be more likely to find success.

3 key's to victory for Israel Adesanya

1. Have cage awareness

As mentioned before, Adesanya being content to fight on the back foot can be his downfall, as seen in his last fight. Du Plessis is a much more dangerous fighter than Strickland when it comes to pressuring opponents, due to his strong wrestling game and more powerful punches. Backing up against the cage is dangerous territory for Adesanya when going against a much more dangerous opponent. Pereira got a stoppage victory over Adesanya, who was against the cage, and Strickland walked down Adesanya, who was against the cage most of the fight, as he landed many jabs. If Adesanya can have cage awareness and not have his back against the cage for most of the fight, he can make it harder for Du Plessis to blitz on him while he can establish his range to pick Du Plessis apart.

2. Defend the takedowns

Since Du Plessis will have the best submission threat out of past opponents, Adesanya cannot afford to go to the ground with him. He cannot afford to make the same mistakes where he gave his back to Whittaker and Vettori, in the rematches. Besides finding submissions, Du Plessis also possesses deadly ground-and-pound, which can finish anyone or help him win on points. If Adesanya gets taken down, he must remain calm as he figures out what he has to do to get back up. If he stops the wrestling, he can then try to win in striking, the area he is more technically strong in.

3. Be more aggressive

Adesanya is not the champion in this fight but rather, the challenger. That means his backfoot fight style should not be part of his game plan. If he wants the belt, he has to go get it and be aggressive in trying to take out the current champion. A benefit of pressuring Du Plessis is that he can have a hard time shooting takedowns. Adesanya does have to be defensively careful there, though, since Du Plessis possesses good counterpunching ability himself. If Adesanya is aggressive, he could possibly knock out Du Plessis if he can look for moments where his chin is open in the air.