The “Drake” curse and all of its victims

Back in 2015, Serena Williams was having one of the finest years of her decorated career. She was almost certain to win all of the Grand Slams of the year but she fell short at the final of the very last tournament of the year. In August 2022, Kamaru Usman was on his way to become arguably the best MMA fighter in the world but shockingly, lost his belt to Leon during the last few minutes of the fight, a fight he was winning comfortably. Last week, Barcelona suffered a crushing 3-1 defeat to bitter rivals Real Madrid in the El Classico. Three events in completely different sports but they all have one thing in common. Could it be the "Drake" curse?

The Canadian rapping icon may have the Midas Touch when it comes to his music but turns out, things are on the other end of the spectrum for him when it comes to sporting bets. Everyone he bets on/supports, loses. Well, not everyone, but 90 per cent of the time individuals/teams Drake banks on ends up on the losing side. The curse started with Serena Williams in 2015. Drake was rooting for her in the finals and was actually present in the arena when she lost. It then proceeded to hit the Golden State Warriors, who, similar to Williams, was having the season of their lives. Drake had bet big on them during the NBA playoffs and they were beating Cleveland Cavaliers 3-1 in the series. Shockingly and against all odds, Cleveland bounced back, becoming the only team in NBA's history to overturn this deficit. The "Drake" curse then proceeded to hit UFC megastar Conor McGregor, of whom, Drake posted a photo of right before his big fight against Khabib Nurnagonedov in 2018. Boxer Anthony Joshua lost all four of his heavyweight titles against Andy Ruiz in the subsequent year after posting a photo with the Canadian rapper with the caption "About to break the curse."

Toronto Raptors seemingly broke the curse in 2019 when they became the first Canadian Franchise to win the NBA championship, but the supposed curse has made its return since, with the rapper losing small fortunes on UFC and football bets alike. His "victims" include the likes of UFC stars such as Jose Aldo, Justin Gaethj, footballers like Sergio Aguero, Paul Pogba, Jason Sancho, and even entire teams such as AS Roma football team, Barcelona and Arsenal have also fallen prey to it. There have been exceptions but overall, the Drake curse hardly ever misses its mark. It's a good thing that the rapper is worth around a quarter of a billion dollars; otherwise, these bets would have probably bankrupted him by now.