Michael Bisping does not see this weekend's UFC 305 card going well for the fighters from Australia and New Zealand on the bill.
UFC 305 will emanate from Perth, Australia on Saturday night (Sunday morning local time), and will feature some of the top fighters from the host country, as well as nearby New Zealand.
That includes Nigerian-born Kiwi Israel Adesanya, who will look to kickstart a third title reign at the expense of reigning middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis in the main event.
Speaking on his YouTube channel ahead of the event, the former middleweight champ Bisping shared his final predictions for the main card.
He began his predictions by confessing that he was picking against most of the local fighters on the bill.
"If you are Australian, if you are a Kiwi, if you are a New Zealander, if you come from the land down under, if you belong to the ANZAC tribe, I apologize, because they’re all going to lose," he said. "I don’t even like saying that. My predictions — I’m just going to get straight to the point — are not going to be good for the home team. By home team, I mean if you’re from Australia or New Zealand, and there’s a lot of them on the card."
Bisping spent the most time breaking down the UFC 305 main event. While he conceded Adesanya has several paths to victory, he ultimately picked South Africa's Du Plessis to retain the title.
"Izzy is a counter striker, and he might be able to catch Dricus coming in," he said. "As [Du Plessis is] coming in, boom, sharpshoot him, just like he did with Alex Pereira.
"I think the chin of Dricus Du Plessis is going to hold up," he added. "I do believe it’s going to be an all-out war. I do believe both men are going to have a lot of success, but I do think Dricus will be successful with the takedowns, and when it hits the ground, this man is a specialist.
"There’s my prediction. I do believe Dricus Du Plessis has his first successful title defense. There’s a lot of pressure on Israel Adesanya. Is he the same guy? Is the passion the same?"
The UFC 305 co-main event will pit New Zealand's Kai Kara-France against Australia's Steve Erceg in a clash of top-ranked flyweights. Bisping predicted Erceg will beat Kara-France.
He also predicted Polish lightweight contender Mateusz Gamrot will beat Israel Adesanya's training partner and fellow New Zealander Dan Hooker earlier on the main card, and that Surinamese heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik will beat Australia's Tai Tuivasa.
There are no Australians or New Zealanders in the opening bout of the UFC 305 main card, which will pit Brazil's Carlos Prates against China's Li Jingliang, but Bisping still threw his support behind the fighter from the opposite hemisphere in Prates.
