Alexander Volkanovski is hoping Israel Adesanya returns to form at UFC 305.
“The Last Stylebender” Adesanya returns to action on Saturday for the first time since last September, when he surrendered his middleweight belt to Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 293. It was a puzzling effort for Adesanya, who had built a résumé at 185 pounds that rivaled some of the best in the sport’s history.
Volkanovski, who trains with Adesanya at City Kickboxing, believes his teammate can put on a highlight performance against current 185-pound champion Dricus du Plessis.
“I expect a serious performance from Israel Adesanya, like we’ve seen in the past. [in] Paulo Costa [fight]”… He just wrestles with authority in that fight,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel.
UFC 305: du Plessis vs. Adesanya, Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+. Order now! “Drikas is very clumsy and unconventional. He applies clumsy pressure that’s hard for opponents to deal with. We’ve seen Strickland’s clumsy pressure cause problems for Izzy, but it’s not going to happen again with Izzy. You’re not going to see that fight the same. You’re not going to see that fight the same. Izzy is going to make very different adjustments, develop a very different game and capitalize on that.”
Strickland could give Adesanya an unexpected opportunity, but Volkanovski believes the Nigerian-born New Zealander will be better prepared for du Plessis.
“I don’t think Izzy will be surprised by the awkward, unpredictable style that Dricus will bring to the table,” Volkanovski said. “Izzy might have been a little surprised by Strickland’s defensive pressure, but I don’t think he’ll be surprised this time. I think he’s expecting a awkward fighter to come in and apply pressure, and I think he’s ready to take advantage of that…”
Adesanya has had some notable finishes in his career so far, including wins over the likes of Alex Pereira, Robert Whittaker and Costa during his time with UFC, and Volkanovski believes a resurgent Adesanya can do the same on Saturday night.
“I think Israel Adesanya is going to go out there and put in a performance where he gets a crazy finish, and that would mean something because Dorricus is no joke,” he said.
