UFC 305 has grabbed the attention of the entire fighting community with the headliner featuring Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis. With the heat emanating from their rivalry and the ‘real African’ debate burning bright, the fighting community has already begun talking about the bout. Professional fighters have given their verdict on the matchup. However, Chael Sonnen has come forth with some insights about Du Plessis’ grappling skills. 

Surprisingly, the former UFC contender doesn’t believe that ‘Stillknocks’ will be able to defeat ‘The Last Stylebender’. Let’s see why.

UFC insider doesn’t believe Dricus Du Plessis can take down Israel Adesanya

Taking to the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ show, ‘The American Gangster’ revealed that the middleweight champion has a massive experience in the realm of grappling. Sonnen revealed that DDP was once a member of the South African National Team for Greco-Roman wrestling. Even though he wasn’t the absolute best fighter on the team, he was still a participant. Du Plessis even became the third-best grappler in a senior-level open tournament. After that, he moved to Thailand to train and upgrade his striking. 

It was in the land of Muay Thai where DDP had a grappling battle with Adesanya. Needless to say, it was the South African to dominated the canvas. However, times are different now. Sonnen believed that taking down fighters like Yoel Romero, Kelvin Gastelum, and Derek Brunson, would be easier than taking down ‘Izzy’.

‘The Bad Guy’ said, “And I’m sharing that because I don’t believe that Dricus can go ground and pound him. I don’t believe he can take Izzy down easier than Gastelum, easier than Yoel Romero, easier than Brunson. I think he’s going to have to fight and Dricus goes straight for it and he wears guys down. He makes them quit. And that’s the one thing about Izzy I cannot say, no matter how bad of a performance I’ve seen from him, I’ve never seen that man quit.”

Nevertheless, the fight is going to be one of the biggest fights that has the potential to raise the entropy of the crowd to great heights. But most of the professionals seem to be siding with Adesanya for the win. Even Alexander Volkanovski.

Alexander Volkanovski chooses the ‘Stylebender’ as the winner

The former featherweight champion didn’t back away from praising Du Plessis’ style which puts immense pressure on his opponents. It was indeed the style that has often troubled the former 2-time middleweight champion in his fight against Sean Strickland, at UFC 293. Yet, it would be Adesanya who would win. 

‘The Great’ Volkanovski quoted, “Dricus is very awkward, very unorthodox. He’s got awkward pressure, which is very, very hard for people to deal with, and we’ve seen awkward pressure from Strickland give Izzy problems. But that doesn’t happen to Izzy twice. There’s no way that fight looks the same.”

Now, it is no surprise that ‘Volk’ picked his City Kickboxing teammate, but his assessment rings true regardless. As for Sonnen’s take, Adesanya has been taken down and held down. However, it was by the much bigger Jan Blachowicz in their light heavyweight title bout. Adesanya made the mistake of not bulking up to fight a proper light heavyweight like the Pole. Can the same be said of Du Plessis?

What are your thoughts on the matchup between Du Plessis and Adesanya? Do you think Adesanya will reclaim his throne as the UFC middleweight champion? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.