Daniel Cormier expects a highly motivated Israel Adesanya at UFC 305: ‘He don’t want to lose to Dricus’ du Plessis

It’s been almost a year since Israel Adesanya last competed in the UFC, and he has plenty to prove in his comeback.

Adesanya would likely rather forget his September 2023 bout that served as a shocking upset loss to Sean Strickland and cost him the UFC middleweight title. That setback came after a pair of intense showdowns against longtime rival Alex Pereira, which ended with Adesanya scoring a vicious knockout over the Brazilian to reclaim the belt.

But Adesanya’s reign ended just a few months later with the Strickland loss, which was then followed by an extended break from action. As Adesanya prepares to make his return on Saturday at UFC 305, Daniel Cormier, who is set to call the fights as part of the broadcast team, believes Adesanya actually made the right move to sit out rather than rushing back.

“I honestly don’t hate that he took some time off,” Cormier said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “They were riding this dude so hard. He was riding so hot, for so long.

“I remember right after he lost to Sean Strickland, I posted a picture of the amount of fights he had headlined. I thought to myself, this dude needs a break. It’s not bad that he took some time off. He was fighting a lot. Like, a lot. He was fighting a lot. I don’t know if anyone’s been as active.”

Adesanya was definitely one of the more active champions on the UFC roster, racking up five fights between 2022 and 2023 culminating with his loss to Strickland.

After Adesanya lost the belt, UFC CEO Dana White declared the former champ would compete for a title when he returned, which now comes to fruition with his fight against new UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis in the UFC 305 main event.

Adesanya was actually supposed to defend his title against du Plessis this past September instead of Strickland, but the South African contender wasn’t able to make a quick turnaround following a win over ex-UFC champion Robert Whittaker in July.

The UFC 305 showdown finally brings Adesanya and du Plessis together after the middleweights exchanged plenty of nasty words over the past couple of years. Whatever professional rivalry existed between them eventually turned personal ahead of the title fight in Perth.

Because Adesanya is coming back from a loss and a year off, Cormier knows there’s a lot riding on the former champ’s performance, but that pressure only gets amplified facing a heated rival like du Plessis.

“He don’t want to lose to that dude,” Cormier said of Adesanya. “He don’t want to lose to Dricus. I love how intense it gets between these guys.

“I like bad blood fights. That’s my thing. I’m not going to lie to you, I love when it’s a bad blood fight, and this one has all the shit that I love. Those guys hate each other.”

Despite coming into the fight as the challenger rather than the champion, Adesanya certainly has a lot riding on the results.

At 35, Adesanya is moving towards the latter stage of his career and it’s impossible not to wonder where he would go next if he suffers a second straight loss in a title fight.

Cormier knows du Plessis is actually counting on that after hearing the UFC middleweight champion address the matchup in the days leading up to the fight.

“I think Dricus is almost betting on him not being [the same guy he was before],” Cormier said. “He said it on Countdown. He said, ‘He’s a tremendous fighter but his light is dimming … his light is dimming if it isn’t completely out [already].’ F*cking Dricus du Plessis said that about Izzy.”

“It’s on Izzy to show that’s not the case. It’s [up to him to say], ‘I’m still here and I’m still the man.”

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