Mateusz Gamrot recently predicted that the UFC 305 main event between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya would play out much like his own showdown with Dan Hooker.
UFC 305 is set to rock the RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia, this weekend with a stacked array of fights. The highly anticipated pay-per-view will be headlined by a middleweight title clash, where Du Plessis defends his UFC belt for the first time against Adesanya. The co-main event features a high-stakes flyweight showdown between Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg, while the main card also boasts a pivotal lightweight bout between Gamrot and Hooker.
“The Last Stylebender” enters this fight after the longest hiatus of his UFC career, following a shocking title loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September 2023. Despite coming off a defeat and a year-long layoff, Adesanya is still slightly favored to win against Du Plessis, largely due to his dominant title reign and highly technical fighting style.
However, Gamrot believes that Adesanya has some vulnerabilities that “Stillknocks” will exploit, much like he plans to do against his own opponent, Hooker…
Gamrot Believes Adesanya’s Wrestling Falls Short Of His Striking
During UFC 305 media day on Wednesday, Gamrot offered his prediction for the main event. “Gamer” acknowledged that while Adesanya’s striking is exceptional, he falls short when it comes to wrestling and grappling. Gamrot predicted that Du Plessis will exploit these weaknesses to put Adesanya under pressure, much like he intends to do against Hooker in their own bout.
“I think Dricus [will win],” Gamrot said. “I like the guy, we have a good relationship. He is good everywhere like he’s—maybe this matchup is similar to my matchup against Hooker. So, Adesanya is a high-level striker, but his wrestling and jiu-jitsu, I think, are not super. I don’t know, but I can think about that—jiu-jitsu and wrestling are not at the same level as his striking. So if Dricus takes him down, then the fight will be much easier for him, and I think the power is much different between Adesanya and Dricus. So, my prediction is that Dricus will win this fight.”
“Gamer” is riding a three-fight win streak and is set to return to the Octagon after a commanding unanimous decision victory over Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 299 this past March.
Gamrot enters UFC 305 with a distinct advantage, thanks to his wrestling-heavy style, which could pose serious problems for “The Hangman”, who prefers to keep the fight standing.
