Israel Adesanya aims to become a three-time middleweight champion at UFC 305 on Sunday 18th August 2024, when he takes on current champion Dricus du Plessis. "DDP" will be making the first defense of the title he won against Sean Strickland in his most recent fight while Adesanya is looking to rebound from losing the belt to Strickland in a shocking upset at UFC 293.

UFC 293 was supposed to feature Adesanya defending the belt against du Plessis, but du Plessis was not ready to compete after defeating Robert Whittaker in a title eliminator two months prior. That opened the door for Strickland to upend things at 185 pounds.

Now, Adesanya and du Plessis face off after a rivalry that has featured some unfortunately ugly moments in which the two fighters, both African-born, have exchanged words over which is the "real African." Adesanya was born in Nigeria before his family moved to New Zealand while du Plessis is South African-born and still fights out of the country.

The co-main event sees former flyweight title contender Steve Erceg taking on former interim title challenger Kai Kara-France in what could be the most high-action fight on the card.

With so much happening on Saturday night, let's take a closer look at the full fight card with the latest odds before we get to our staff predictions and picks for the PPV portion of the festivities.

https://www.cbssports.com/mma/news/ufc-305-predictions-dricus-du-plessis-vs-israel-adesanya-fight-card-odds-prelims-preview-expert-picks/