Drake loses $450,000 as ‘curse’ strikes Israel Adesanya in title fight against Dricus du Plessis

Rap superstar, Drake, has lost a $450,000 (£347,000) bet as Israel Adesanya lost his middleweight title UFC 305 fight against reigning champion Dricus du Plessis in Perth on Saturday night.

Drake has a long history of wagering on sports, in particular the UFC, and his misses often get more attention than his hits with a long-running joke called “The Drake Curse” plaguing the athletes or teams he backs with his wagers.

In fact, a website launched detailing Drake’s biggest wins and losses as a sports bettor, which includes Adesanya suffering a pair of losses as the favorite with the rapper putting down money on him ahead of the fight. His biggest financial setback came when he bet on Adesanya to beat Alex Pereira back at UFC 281 with the rapper losing over $1.59 million.

Drake would’ve walked away with $855,000 (£660,563) if Adesanya beat du Plessis to make history by becoming just the second UFC fighter to win the same title three times.

However, he ended up suffering a submission loss at UFC 305.

Adesanya was wobbled in round four before du Plessis swarmed him with strikes, secured the takedown, took his back, locked up a rear-naked choke, and became the first man to submit him.

The 37-year-old Canadian’s support has not always been a good thing for Adesanya, who has lost two of the four times he’s previously been backed to win by ‘Champagne Papi’

In July 2022, Drake put $1million (£770,000) on Adesanya when he squared off against Jared Cannonier and walked away with $1.3million after his points win at UFC 276.

A few months later, Alex Pereira’s stunning come-from-behind victory at UFC 281 cost Drake a whopping $1.6million (£1,240,000) – but he got most of it back by betting on Adesanya to KO ‘Poatan’ in their rematch at UFC 287.

After banking $1,440,000 (£1,112,528) in that fight, Drake lost a big chunk of it when he placed a massive bet on Adesanya’s next bout – a title defence against unfancied underdog Sean Strickland.

Strickland dropped and outpointed the champion to become the champion with a unanimous decision victory, which put a $500,000 hole in Drake’s pocket.