Drake Losses $450,000 After Du Plessis Beats Adesanya
Drake bet $450,000 on Israel Adesanya to beat Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 and lost his money.
Du Plessis defended his UFC Middleweight Title for the first time and submitted Adesanya in the fourth round. He won the belt after beating Sean Strickland in a controversial split decision. Meanwhile, Izzy had been absent from the octagon after losing the middleweight belt against Strickland at UFC 293.
Du Plessis and Adesanya shared verbals during the build-up. Du Plessis clarified his earlier comments, saying he would be the first residing African to win a belt. That was in reference to Izzy, who lives in New Zealand after leaving his home country of Nigeria. Drake picked Adesanya to win, with many UFC fighters doing the same.
Pre-Fight Narrative
“Got some advice for Izzy on how to fight DDP on Saturday… Lots of feints… he reacts to them so much and throws from the hills. Then you can step back. Have a look and either go for the punch combo or knee maybe a kick. You’re a high-level striker so you know what I’m on about… As he rushes in also do what you did against Rob and I did the same. Yours knocked Rob out whereas mine didn’t but still the same. DDP will rush in,” Darren Till
“I feel like something big is coming – I mean, a big finish. I mean highlight reel Izzy that we’ve seen,” he said of his friend. “That type of finish that we’re going to see from Izzy, which is going to be huge, which just puts him – obviously he’s always been a superstar, just puts him right back where he was not that long ago,” Alexander Volkanovski
“It’s very hard to put a hard pick on either one of them,” Whittaker said. “All we can look at is historically, like their previous fights. Dricus, his last fight against Sean Strickland, he moved forward. He put pressure on Strickland, didn’t let Strickland do that to him, shut his game down, was very aggressive, crowded that space, didn’t Strickland really find the rhythm he likes to fight in and came away with the decision win,” Robert Whittaker
Drake’s Curse
Drake’s betting history shows he does not have the best success rate. He has been credited with the term ‘Drake’s curse.’ It was coined after Drake picked Jake Paul to beat Tommy Fury. However, Paul suffered a split decision loss in his first loss. Drake also lost a $550,000 bet when he said Justin Gaethje would beat Charles Oliveira at UFC 274.
Oliveira, though, won the fight in the first round. Drake lost $275,000 when he stated that Jorge Masvidal would beat Colby Covington. However, Covington secured the win. There was also a $615,000 bet on Francis Ngannou to beat Anthony Joshua. But Joshua knocked him out in the second round.
There were some successes, as he was right in choosing Alex Pereira to beat Jamahal Hill at UFC 300. Drake put up $675,000, taking home $1.2 million after Pereira secured a first-round KO. After picking Izzy, Drake lost a big sum.
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