Israel Adesanya set for UFC return against Dricus Du Plessis

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

After almost a year of taking a break from professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Israel Adesanya is finally back and will be making his highly-anticipated return in the upcoming UFC 305 on August 17, 2024.

It was Adesanya who confirmed the exciting update after posting a message on his official social media account, announcing that he will fight Dricus Du Plessis, the current UFC middleweight champion.

Adesanya’s last fight was against Sean Strickland on September 9, 2023, where he lost via a stunning unanimous decision.

Months after snatching Adesanya’s middleweight belt, Strickland made his first title defense during the main event of UFC 297. However, the brute striker lost at the hands of Du Plessis who clinched a split-decision victory.

Last March, du Plessis already expressed that he is expecting to fight Adesanya this coming summer and added that a clash with “The Last Stylebender” is one of the most ideal scenarios for him.

“Fighting Izzy on home soil would be the ideal. That would be ticking a lot of boxes. He’s one of the best to ever do it in the middleweight division,” Du Plessis told ESPN’s Leonard Solms.

Despite entering the fight as the favorite, Adesanya will have to shrug off octagon rust issues after almost a year of hiatus from competing in the UFC.

Adesanya also lost two of his last three UFC bouts, scoring a split series with Alex Pereira when he retaliated in their rematch and dropping his latest fight against Strickland.

Meanwhile, Du Plessis is currently on a roll after building an insane nine-fight winning streak and hasn’t lost a bout since September 2019.

Du Plessis eliminated four of the top contenders in the middleweight division, Strickland, Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson, and Darren Till.

Can Adesanya pull off a stellar UFC comeback and break Du Plessis’ winning streak? Or will the reigning champion continue his winning ways and remain as the king of the middleweight division?