Gary Lemke has a look ahead to the weekend’s action as Dricus Du Plessis looks to defend his UFC title, while the USA comes to a standstill for Superbowl LIX.
DRICUS CAN FINISH THE JOB THIS TIME
Dricus du Plessis puts his UFC middleweight title on the line against the man he beat to win it, Sean Strickland, in Sydney on Sunday (around 7am SA time). Du Plessis is making the second defence of his title, having submitted Israel Adesanya in August.
In their first encounter last January, Du Plessis won by split decision. The pattern was established early: Strickland good on his feet, punching gun-barrel straight, and Du Plessis coming forward. The South African attempted several takedown attempts but they were largely defended well.
This time one expects him to succeed more often with those charges. Now they know one another, I think Du Plessis, who is 6-10 favourite, is too big, too strong. My view is that he will have more success with the takedowns and one of them will result in a stoppage. Du Plessis is 10-1, 11-1 and 12-1 to finish inside the opening three rounds.
SUPERBOWL LIX MORE THAN A GAME
Kansas City Chiefs are 9-10 favourites to win Super Bowl LIX (that’s 59, right?) in Las Vegas with the Philadelphia Eagles 11-10. The Chiefs are going for a remarkable three-peat, and have been the dominant gridiron force in recent years.
I don’t know enough to say much more than Kendrick Lamar is performing at the half-time show – yes, it’s a show – and around 123-million people will watch it on TV and there’s increased speculation that Chiefs’ Travis Kelce will propose to Taylor Swift.
You got to admire the Americans. No one beats them when it comes to sports entertainment.
IT'S OFFICIALLY SUPER BOWL WEEK 😤
— NFL (@NFL) February 3, 2025
📺: #SBLIX – Sunday 6:30pm ET on FOX
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/Cdi3F5LZVH
FRANCE, IRELAND TO STAY UNBEATEN?
Having spent time in Paris last year, and getting a taste of the passion of the Parisian sports fanatic, my second favourIte rugby team is France. And yes, Antoine Dupoint is a helluva player.
Therefore, I’ll be supporting them against England when the two Six Nations heavyweights meet at Twickenham on Saturday. To me, at a neutral venue, any of the Springboks, Ireland and France could beat one another on any given day, and I’ll go with France to win at Twickenham, which is a tough place to visit.
Elsewhere, Italy have a chance to record a rare success, taking on Wales in Rome, while Ireland will get tested for at least 60 minutes by Scotland at Murrayfield. The pre-market spreads for the games are Italy and Ireland by six points and France by five.
5 YOUNG GUNS TO IMPRESS ME AT SA20
The Betway SA20 reaches its conclusion on Saturday with MI Cape Town meeting Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the final. The competition, in its third season, is positioned to become the most popular T20 domestic event outside of the IPL
For me, the five youngsters who have strengthened their IPL claims are Dewald Brewis, Ryan Rickelton and Lhuan-dre Pretorius with the bat and Marco Jansen and Lutho Sipamla with the ball, despite him going for a crazy 72 runs in four overs against the Sunrisers, which was probably where the match was won and lost. As to who will actually win the final? It’s T20, and margins are small. MI Cape Town are favourites.
FOUR ALL-EPL TIES IN FA CUP LAST 32
The fourth round of the English FA takes place this weekend which means we’re down to the last 32 of the world’s most famous knockout club competition. There are still 17 top-flight clubs involved, but at least four of them will drop out before the last 16.
How do we know? Because there are five all-EPL games – Man United vs Leicester, Everton vs Bournemouth, Brighton vs Chelsea and Aston Villa vs Tottenham. Bottom EPL club Southampton, surely doomed for relegation, also have a tough-looking game, taking on Burnley, who are second in the Championship.
