Israel Adesanya’s return to the octagon will come in the shape of a middleweight title fight against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305. The pair are set to headline the pay-per-view card, which will take place in Perth, Australia.
Israel Adesanya was defeated in shocking fashion by Sean Strickland in his previous fight at UFC 293, which saw him lose the middleweight belt. Afterwhich, the two-time champion announced he would be taking a break from fighting to fix several lingering injuries.
Having also competed five times in an eighteen-month period, his impressive strength of schedule warranted a break.
‘The Last Stylebender’ is now midway through preparing for his return to the UFC, and his teammate and former champion, Alexander Volkanovski, recently shared a strong prediction for Israel Adesanya’s comeback.
‘The Great’ believes his teammate will reach new heights against ‘Stillknocks’, and stated that he expected a performance akin to Adesanya’s striking masterclass against Paulo Costa at UFC 253.
He said this:
“I even chatted to [Adesanya] before he started camp, and he was already fired up and on. We’re gonna see him coming back, I think he’s gonna look incredible. Dricus is a tough guy, great fighter. But I think this Israel that’s gonna turn up is gonna be one of those, you know when he comes back and you see a Paul Costa performace, or even the first Robert Whittaker performance. I’m expecting him to come out and have one of those moments.”
Watch Alexander Volkanovski preview Israel Adesanya’s return below (6:15):