Drake lost a lot of money again when he bet on Israel Adesanya.
The rap superstar has placed a $450,000 (£347,000) bet on ‘Stylebender’ to regain his middleweight title from reigning champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 in Perth on Saturday night.
1
Drake would have won $855,000 (£660,563) had Adesanya defeated du Plessis, making history by becoming only the second UFC fighter to win the same title three times.
However, he lost by submission at UFC 305.
Adesanya faltered in the fourth frame before du Plessis peppered him with punches, took him to the ground, caught him from behind, applied a rear-naked choke and became the first man to force the Nigerian-born New Zealander to submit.
Drake shared a picture of his betting slip on Instagram with the caption: “Always with Izzy.”
The 37-year-old Canadian’s support has not always been a good thing for Adesanya, who lost two of the four times he was previously supported by “Champagne Papi” to victory.
Drake backed Adesanya with $1 million (£770,000) when he faced Jared Cannonier and walked away with $1.3 million when he beat the American on points at UFC 276 in July 2022.
A few months later, Alex Pereira’s stunning comeback win at UFC 281 cost Drake a whopping $1.6 million (£1,240,000) – but he recouped most of it by assisting Adesanya in knocking out “Poatan” in the rematch at UFC 287.
After earning $1,440,000 (£1,112,528) from that fight, Drake lost a large chunk of it when he placed a huge bet on Adesanya’s next fight – a title defense against unfancied underdog Sean Strickland.
Strickland dropped the champion and scored a unanimous decision victory, giving him the win and putting a $500,000 hole in Drake’s pocket.
