Alexander Volkanovski is expecting a return to form for Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.
“The Last Stylebender” will return to action on Saturday for the first time since relinquishing the middleweight strap to Sean Strickland in the UFC 293 headliner last September. It was perplexing effort from Adesanya, who was building a resume at 185 pounds that rivaled some of the best in the sport’s history.
Volkanovski, who has trained with Adesanya at City Kickboxing, believes his teammate is capable of putting on a highlight reel performance against current 185-pound champ Dricus Du Plessis.
“I’m expecting a performance from Israel Adesanya, like a proper performance like you’ve seen [in] the Paulo Costa [fight]. A fight like that where he goes out and just does it in impressive fashion,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel.
UFC 305: Du Plessis vs. Adesanya Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
“Because Dricus is very awkward, very unorthodox. He’s got awkward pressure, which is 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. There’s no way that fight looks the same. Izzy’s gonna have a completely different adjustment, a completely different game and he’s gonna capitalize.”
While Strickland might have been able to give Adesanya some looks he didn’t expect, Volkanovski believes the Nigerian-born Kiwi will be better prepared for Du Plessis.
“The awkward, unpredictable sort of style that Dricus is going to give, I don’t feel like Izzy is going to be surprised,” Volkanovski said. “I think Izzy might’ve been a little bit surprised at the defensive pressure from Strickland. But I don’t think there’s any surprises this time. I think he’s expecting an awkward fighter to come and put the pressure on him, and I think he’s gonna be ready to capitalize on that…”
Adesanya has authored some notable finishes over the course of his career, putting away the likes of Alex Pereira, Robert Whittaker and Costa during his UFC tenure. Volkanovski belives that a rejuvenated Adesanya can do something similar on Saturday night.
“I think Israel Adesanya is going to put on that type of performance where he goes out and gets a crazy finish, and that’s saying something because Dricus is no joke,” he said.
