Drake’s unfortunate history of betting on MMA continued with the main event of UFC 297 on Saturday night.
Ahead of the highly anticipated showdown between Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland, the Canadian rapper shared a betslip on his Instagram story with a £551,000 wager on Strickland to retain his title.
The story also indicated that he would be in attendance for the clash at the Scotiabank Arena in his native Toronto, writing: ‘And we’re going to fight night’ whilst tagging Dana White.
If Strickland had his hand raised the Gods Plan star stood to earn just shy of £1.1m, but the result ultimately would not go his way.
The controversial defending champion enjoyed a strong start against Du Plessis, employing his patented jab to good effect in the early going to disrupt his opponent’s momentum.
Drake’s chequered history betting on combat sports continued as Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland at UFC 297
Canadian rapper had staked over £500,000 on Strickland defending his middleweight gold
Despite facing a torrent of strikes, Du Plessis mauraded forward as the fight wore on, gradually enjoying more success landing in combination whilst securing several takedowns.
The faces of both fighters bore the strain of a 25-minute battle at the final bell, but it was ultimately the challenger who would emerge victorious via split decision.
Du Plessis’ win sparked jubilant celebrations in South Africa as he became the nation’s first UFC champion, but likely will not have gone down quite as well with Drake.
Saturday’s result marks just the latest example of the so-called Drake curse.
Wager comes just months after Drake bet against Strickland in his win over Israel Adesanya
When Strickland shocked the world to defeat middleweight great Israel Adesanya back in September, the 37-year-old had wagered £430,000 on the Kiwi to win via knockout.
This also marks the second time that he has lost money on backing UFC star Adesanya – who is also a long-time friend of the musician.
Drake lost £1.7m after backing Adesanya to beat Brazilian Alex Pereira in October last year.
