{"id":69222,"date":"2025-08-15T03:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T03:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/69222\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T03:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T03:12:07","slug":"adesanya-makes-bold-prediction-for-ufc-319-main-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/69222\/","title":{"rendered":"Adesanya makes bold prediction for UFC 319 main event"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The middleweight division is having a moment right now in the world of mixed martial arts.<\/p>\n<p>Former king of the 185-pounders, Israel Adesanya, has weighed in on the upcoming title fight at UFC 319 between\u00a0Dricus du Plessis and\u00a0Khamzat Chimaev.<\/p>\n<p>Chimaev, undefeated and feared for his violent style, is finally in the title picture and enters the bout as the strong favourite.<\/p>\n<p>His opponent, du Plessis, is the first South African champion. With a record of 23-wins, two-losses and victories over three former champions, du Plessis has proven that he can adapt to any style.<\/p>\n<p>Adesanya broke down the matchup in a recent video on his <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HfYTLeYjGvc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">YouTube channel<\/a>, highlighting the contrasting approaches of the two fighters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Khamzat\u2019s a fast starter. He\u2019s going to come in and shoot almost instantly,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Dricus du Plessis will keep his distance, use his long-range weapons like kicks\u2026 and his jab.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The former champion sees two possible outcomes: Chimaev could take control early, or\u00a0du Plessis&#8217; unrelenting style could potentially secure the upset in the later rounds.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[Either] Khamzat comes out, just grabs a hold of Dricus and just drags him to deep waters in the first or second [round] and finishes him,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Or, Dricus matches Khamzat\u2019s crazy [style], with his own type of crazy [style] and willingness to not quit and drags Khamzat into deep waters in the third, fourth or fifth round and gets him out of there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/uk\/mma\/news\/volkanovski-previews-ufc-319-featherweight-title-stakes\/c7013c0adff713a118c36995\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Volkanovski previews UFC 319 co-main event with featherweight title implications<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Adesanya believes the intense clash of styles will benefit the champion and his persistent attitude.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He\u2019s just stubborn, he won\u2019t quit,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is a method to [du Plessis\u2019] madness, it\u2019s awkward but it\u2019s all systematic for him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Dricus can weather the storm and probably finish Khamzat later on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The UFC 319 middleweight title fight promises fireworks. Chimaev&#8217;s aggression and\u00a0du Plessis\u2019 adaptive style sets the stage for a contest which will likely steal the show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The middleweight division is having a moment right now in the world of mixed martial arts. Former king&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-69222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}