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MOSCOW, September 11, Andrey Vasilchin. On the night of Sunday Moscow time, the 293rd tournament of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) took place in Sydney, giving fans the main sensation of 2023 in mixed martial arts. The total favorite Israel Adesanya mediocrely lost to Sean Strickland and lost the title of champion in the middle weight category.
The main event lasted all five rounds and ended with an upset of the talkative American (unanimous decision of the judges). Although everything could have ended in the first round, when Sean caught Izzy and flew to finish off the shocked New Zealander — a break saved the ex-champion from a knockout.
How can we not remember the Canadian rap artist Drake, who bet 500 thousand dollars on Adesanya’s victory? The “curse” is in action again: if the 36-year-old artist “charges” someone, he loses. There are a lot of examples! Drake has no luck in basketball, American football, or motorsports.
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And here’s what happened in MMA:
- $275 thousand for triumph Jorge Masvidal fights Colby Covington. The latter wiped the canvas with his former friend;
- Almost $430 thousand for Justin Gaethje’s victory over Charles Oliveira and the American’s winning the vacant UFC belt in the lightweight division. Now “The Most Dangerous Bastard” gave up in the first round;
- Two million (!) dollars for Adesanya’s victory at UFC 281. However, Brazilian Alex Pereira scored a knockout at the end of the confrontation and left Izzy without gold.
Boxing is also in trouble. Drake bet on blogger Jake Paul's last two fights:
- $400 thousand for a knockout victory over Tommy Fury. Paul Jr. lost by decision;
- $250 thousand to lose to Nate Diaz. However, no, it was an ex-UFC fighter who was beaten.
- $238 thousand on Jose Aldo . Lost to Merab Dvalishvili and ended his MMA career, entering the promotion's Hall of Fame;
- $200 thousand for Kamaru Usman. He was knocked out a minute before the end of the title fight against Leon Edwards.
«The Curse» includes not only bets, but also other manifestations of Drake's sympathy for the athlete/team. If he put on a uniform, posed with a flag, or — nightmare! — took a photo with you, you are doomed… Many stars suffered from this: among them, ex-UFC champion in two divisions Conor McGregor, who before the superfight with Khabib Nurmagomedov appeared at many events with the rapper, tennis player Serena Williams, boxer Anthony Joshua.
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Let’s make a reservation that quite a few of Drake’s bets are “in” (for example, a million on Adesanya’s victory over Jared Cannonier). However, here everything works the same way as with goalkeeper mistakes in football: if you hit it ten times, they will forget, if you make one mistake, they will remember.
However, Drake himself is not very worried about his “curse.” And sometimes he even jokes: a few years ago, he decided to help the Toronto Raptors players in the decisive seventh game of the National Basketball Association (NBA) series against the Philadelphia 76ers, wearing the latter's shorts. It worked! The capital club successfully made it through the second round of the playoffs.