Drake loses over R13 million after betting against Dricus du Plessis in UFC fight

Newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has seemingly taken a jab at Canadian rapper Drake, after the latter placed a bet of more than R13 million that the South African would lose to US fighter Sean Strickland.

“History has been made. Thank you to everyone who believed in me and the incredible support. Those who didn’t… well that makes you look like a dumbass,” the South African captioned a photo of himself seemingly having breakfast, with a beer in hand, on Twitter.

The “dumbass” in question could be Drake, who bet more than R13 million ($700K) against Dricus Du Plessis, convinced that Strickland would successfully defend his UFC Middleweight Championship in the UFC 297 main event on Saturday night. The fight was hosted in Toronto, Canada, the city Drake comes from.

Had Strickland won, Drake would’ve taken home more than R25 million.

“Wow. The emotions I felt when I heard the judges scores being read,” Du Plessis said in the post-fight Press Conference after UFC 297 at the sold-out Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

“It felt like 15 years of work, of dreaming and sacrifices came together in that one single sentence,” he added on hearing legendary octagon announcer Bruce Buffer calling out his name as the new champion.

ALSO READ: Dricus: ‘Fifteen years of work and dreaming’ but now champion of the world

Drake’s gambling woes

This is not the first time the award-winning rapper and former actor has lost money through sport gambling.

In 2022 he placed a $600,000 wager on Barcelona winning El Clasico and Arsenal beating Leeds United in the Premier League. The Gunners came through for him, but the Catalan giants suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of their rivals.

In 2019 he believed his hometown team, Maple Leafs to win Game 7 of their 2019 playoff series against the Boston Bruins. Toronto lost.

Drake backed Conor McGregor for his lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov, with the Irishman and Canadian joining forces at the weigh-in before UFC 229. Nurmagomedov tapped out McGregor in the fourth round.

However, his luck came right in 2020 during the Fifa World Cup finals, where he placed a $1 million bet on Argentina winning the World Cup.

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