Dricus Du Plessis stunned the world when he defeated Israel Adesanya by submissio͏n in the fourth round to successfully defend his 185 lbs title͏ at UFC Perth.͏ The five-͏round c͏hampionship match w͏as incredibly c͏lose, with both fig͏hters landing͏ he͏av͏y ͏shots on each o͏ther͏. ͏However, Adesanya never had an retort f͏or Du Plessis’s grappling͏. In the fourth rou͏nd, Adesanya ͏succumbed to Du͏ Pl͏essi͏s’s grappling, and it seems to have been tough not for the former middleweight king, but rather on his friend Alexander Volkanovski.

The former featherweight champion of the world shares a very close relationship with the former middleweight champion. Volkanovski was expecting his friend to emerge victorious, “I was starting to get quite confident because I thought, you know, he was fighting his eye.” But the reality was a bit different. In his latest escapade, ‘Great’ gave his honest take on Adesanya’s defeat.

Alexander Volkanovski breaks down Israel Adeasnya’s defeat against Dricus Du Plessis

After his defeat against Sean Strickland at UFC 293, Israel Adesanya took a year off from his career to focus on his comeback. Regardless, even his resurgence was not that of a charm as his defeat against Dricus Du Plessis has left another black spot in his tremendous MMA career. Israel Adesanya was confident of his victory and was performing well against the champ but Dircus Du Plessis’s dominant grappling caught ‘Stylebender’ off-guard.

Adesanya’s friend, Alexander Volkanovski took to his YouTube handle to provide a detailed explanation about his opinion on his friend’s loss. The former featherweight champion stated that he believed in Adesanya’s victory, “I was getting quite confident in the later rounds, like, here we go, now it’s—you could see that the finish is coming. I was thinking for Izzy, right? I started, like, even saying there was a camera in front of me, and I was pretty much saying that I was starting to get quite confident,” said Volkanovski.

He further broke down the exact moment he thought that it would be tough for Israel Adesanya to get past Dricus Du Plessis, “Maybe slowed down a little bit towards the end of each round, but would start off, you know, very strong and sharp and land nice clean shots. And even as Dricus was like, all right, this is it, the finish is coming. Dricus was tough. Even when I thought like, oh, he’s gone downhill from here, he would just turn it around and, you know, land some shots of his own and try and, you know, grab a hold, slow it down, and then was able to get the finish in the fourth round.”

Israel ͏Adesanya is 1-2 in his last three fights and will need ͏to take a closer look͏ at ͏his career. Reg͏ardless, what͏’s n͏ext f͏or the for͏mer middlewei͏ght champion? Let͏’s find out.

What’s next for Israel Adesanya?

After a crazy press conference and banter from both the fighters, UFC 305 witnessed the clash between the biggest stars of the middleweight division. Dricus Du Plessis shocked the entire world with his victory as he defended his title. His victory over Israel Adesanya only proved that it’s rather unwise to predict what the South African can do as he was looking gassed up from the very start of the 4th round but after some time dropped one of the best submissions of recent times. ‘StillKnocks’ has a promising career ahead of him.

On the other hand, Israel Adesanya will have to make sure to reflect on his shortcomings. Adesanya fighting style needs a bit of refinement as more grapplers are coming to the division. Unlike, his staunch opponent, Alex Pereira, who goes for a knockout firsthand, Adesanya likes to play with his opponent and it appears to have worked against him in his last few bouts. The first three rounds were an evenly contested match but the fourth round proved to be a better revelation of a better fighter.

But as he clarified in both the post-fight octagon interview and the presser, Izzy will be back to reclaim his rightful throne. Although he did not make any specific promises, and simply noted that we will see him when we see him, he did promise to bounce back with newer techniques. Nevertheless, what’s your take on the fight? State your thoughts in the comments below.