Dricus du Plessis tipped to land upset title win over UFC foe Israel Adesanya: ‘He is that dude’

Expected to book his premiere title outing under the UFC banner – potentially as soon as September at UFC 293 in Australia, surging middleweight contender, Dricus du Plessis can most certainly upset the apple cart with a title victory against champion, Israel Adesanya, according to lightweight veteran, Michael Chandler.

du Plessis, the newly-minted number one ranked middleweight contender, managed to land himself atop the pecking order at 185lbs last weekend, defeating former champion and common-foe, Robert Whittaker with a blistering second round ground strikes TKO win.

Met by two-time and current undisputed middleweight champion, Adesanya inside the Octagon in a racially-charged verbal assault, Dricus du Plessis is expected to potentially fight the Nigerian-born striker as soon as UFC 293 in September, in a trip to Sydney, Australia.

Dricus du Plessis “talent” and “build” touted as challenge for Israel Adesanya

With his victory over Whittaker, former EFC and KSW champion, Dricus du Plessis moved to 6-0 under the UFC banner following recent wins over both Derek Brunson, and Darren Till – and according to Chandler, the South African finisher can most definitely push Adesanya to his limit in their title affair.

“I should probably do a fight prediction now,” Michael Chandler said on his YouTube channel. “I’ve trained with Dricus (du Plessis). I like Dricus. He’s trained with me down in Florida. I think he surprised a lot of people in the way he finished Robert Whittaker. He even said it himself in the post-fight press conference, ‘Look at Izzy’s (Israel Adesanya) fights against Whittaker and look at my fight against Whittaker.’”

“Dricus has a very tall task ahead of him, but Dricus proved to us all that he is that dude and he deserves to be right where he is,” Chandler continued. “I think Izzy has more weapons. I think Izzy has obviously has more championship fights, which then would give him more championship experience, more championship mentality. But can Dricsu go out there and steal the show and shock the world? Definitely a possibility. With that build, with that talent, I think it’s definitely a possibility. If I had to put money on it, I think Izzy still has the edge.”