Volkanovski backs Adesanya for UFC 305 victory

Australian MMA star Alexander Volkanovski has weighed in with his predictions ahead of the main event of UFC 305 in Perth this Sunday between Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Volkanovski declared that Adesanya will make a statement by finishing the current UFC middleweight champion in dramatic fashion.

“I think Israel Adesanya is going to put on that type of performance where he gets a crazy finish,” Volkanovski said.

“I feel like something big is coming — I mean, a big finish.

“I’m expecting a performance from Israel Adesanya, like a proper performance like you’ve seen in the Paulo Costa performance where he goes out and just does it in impressive fashion.

“I mean highlight-reel Izzy that we’ve seen.

“That type of finish that we’re going to see from Izzy, which is going to be huge, which just puts him right back where he was not that long ago.

“Only because I think he’s always going to have them skills.”

Volkanovski details Adesanya’s path to victory

Adesanya is coming into UFC 305 having lost two of his past three fights.

However, Volkanovski has confidence in the Nigeria-born Kiwi’s ability to bounce back, despite the challenge du Plessis presents.

“Dricus is very awkward, very unorthodox,” he explained.

“He’s got awkward pressure, which is very, very hard for people to deal with, and we’ve seen awkward pressure from Strickland give Izzy problems.

“But that doesn’t happen to Izzy twice. There’s no way that fight looks the same.”

Adesanya’s most recent loss was to Sean Strickland, with the American winning by unanimous decision.

Du Plessis went on to fight Strickland next, upsetting him with a split decision to claim the middleweight title.

“Dricus is very strong, wrestler, grappler,” Volkanovski continued.

“Izzy is going to have to be careful of Dricus trying to take him down because I reckon he’s going to have that freakish strength, and he’s got good D’Arce [chokes] and good [other] chokes as well.”

UFC bookmakers agree with Volkanovski, giving Adesanya (-121.95) a slight edge over du Plessis (+100) in the betting odds.

Bovada has the most likely method of victory as a decision in favour of Adesanya at +180.

Knockouts pay +350 for either fighter, while an Adesanya submission is at long odds of +2800.

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