Israel Adesanya Breaks the Infamous ‘Drake Curse’ With Victory Over Jared Cannonier at UFC 276

Israel Adesanya continued his undefeated run in the UFC middleweight division at UFC 276. ‘The Last Stylebender’ beat Jared Cannonier and successfully defended his middleweight crown. However, Adesanya’s title defense was not his only significant achievement. The Nigerian-born Kiwi also managed to break a curse.

With his victory at UFC 276, Israel Adesanya broke the infamous Drake curse. ‘The Drake Curse‘ is associated with an athlete or a team suffering misfortune in competition as they associate themselves with the musician. It found its way into the UFC as well.

When Jorge Masvidal faced Colby Covington at UFC 272, Drake placed a bet of $275,000 on ‘Gamebred’ beating Covington. However, that didn’t happen as ‘Chaos’ won and the Canadian musician lost his money.

Drake also placed a bet of $427,000 on Justin Gaethje when the fighter fought Charles Oliveira at UFC 274. While the musician believed ‘The Highlight’ would beat Oliveira, that certainly wasn’t the case as ‘Do Bronx‘ pulled off a submission victory in round 1.

However, Drake was successful this time. In a call to Israel Adesanya, the musician revealed he placed a bet on him. He said, “You know I put a light million up. I wasn’t playing.” This move reaped the fruits for Drake as ‘The Last Stylebender’ outclassed ‘The Killa Gorilla’ and shattered the Drake Curse.

Read More: 5 Things We Didn’t Know About Israel Adesanya

Adesanya’s victory at UFC 276 signified his dominance in the division. However, the fighter has set his sights on achieving more success as he revealed what he aspires to do ahead.

Israel Adesanya wants Alex Pereira next

With his victory against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276, Israel Adesanya has put himself in a position to call the shots. ‘The Last Stylebender’ made his next move pretty clear when he spoke to Joe Rogan after his match.

The 185-pound UFC champion expressed his desire to fight Alex Pereira. Adesanya said, “We know who’s next…Trust me. The first time I told you, it was an error on my part spamming right hands and that was in kickboxing.”

“It’s easy to knock out the homeboy…Because he was parrying the jabs. But like I said at the press conference, next time I put you on skates, you’re gonna get frozen like Elsa. I’ll leave it at that.”

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Adesanya and Pereira have quite the history between themselves. The Brazilian fighter holds two kickboxing victories over Adesanya, with one of them coming via knockout. While Pereira will look to do the same in MMA, ‘The Last Stylebender’ will look to avenge his defeat.

Comment below and let us know who you think would win in an MMA fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira.