Israel Adesanya predicted Dricus du Plessis as the winner against Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight title fight at UFC 319, international media reported on Monday.
A former important figure in the middleweight division, Adesanya, who now rides a three-fight skid, with one of those losses to current champion Du Plessis. The South African submitted Adesanya at UFC 305 to secure his second title defence.
Du Plessis is ready for his third title defence against Chimaev at UFC 319 in August.
Meanwhile, Adesanya has issued a prediction on the fight, saying he still thinks Dricus is the favourite.
“I still think Dricus gets it,” Adesanya said.
“I think it just- late finish -yeah. Late finish [for DDP]. Khamzat, I think [if Khamzat wins] it’s the first two rounds. Dricus is just chaotic. Chaotic good, chaotic evil, that’s literally what this fight might be.”
Chimaev has been undefeated since his debut five years ago with a 14-0 record, while Du Plessis has also been impressive as he defeated Sean Strickland in their UFC 312 rematch in February and secured a fourth-round submission of Adesanya.
Israel Adesanya also praised former rival Paulo Costa following his win over Roman Kopylov at UFC 318.
“Costa is looking good, man. Costa is looking clean!” Adesanya said.
“Bro, he’s selecting them nice. That uppercut, right to the body as well. Costa is on today, he’s back. Good job, buddy. Finally!
“That was vintage. He looked good.”
On Saturday night, Costa got himself back in the win column with a unanimous decision over Kopylov, utilising his boxing to sweep the cards 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.
