Drake 'curse' continues as rapper loses massive six-figure bet on UFC 297
Drake's 'curse' is showing no signs of letting up after the rapper lost another huge six-figure bet on UFC 297.
The Canadian rapper is good at many things. He is the highest certified digital singles artist of all time in the United States with four Grammy Awards to his name, while his forays into the worlds of fashion have proven pretty successful too.
However, the 37-year-old is finding out the hard way that you simply can't be great at everything.
Drake is partial to a flutter on combat sports - particularly UFC - but he appears to be a pretty hopeless gambler. A series of failed bets have earned him a reputation for being cursed, and his latest blunder is going to do little to change that.
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Drake was cage-side in his hometown Toronto to see Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis go head to head at UFC 297, the first pay-per-view show of the year.
The rap star is a big UFC fan, but on Saturday night he had a vested interest: he placed a $700,000 (£551,000) stake on Strickland to beat Du Plessis, with an estimated return of just over £1 million.
Drake shared his bet slip on Instagram ahead of the fight, showing he had huge confidence that Strickland would come up trumps in his first middleweight title defence.
Unfortunately for both fighter and gambler, things didn't go according to plan.
Both men landed serious blows throughout the fight, but in the end Du Plessis just about did enough to win a split decision 48-47. He walked away with the middleweight gold and became the first South African champion in UFC history.
Of course, this isn't the first time Drake has lost heavily when betting on UFC. Last September he wagered $500,000 (£401,000) on Israel Adesanya to knockout Strickland at UFC 293, only for Strickland to produce a heavy knockdown of his own and see out the fight.
Drake then ended 2023 with another loss, despite backing the winner. He wagered $250,000 on Leon Edwards to knockout Colby Covington at UFC 296 in December, but the fight ended up being decided by the judges.
Drake is clearly a very talented individual, but it might be time to accept that gambling on UFC just isn't for him.
Alex Brotherton