Du Plessis And Adesanya Separated During Intense Face-Off

UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya had their first face-off ahead of their UFC 305 clash on August 17.

The contest occurs from the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. This is the first defense of Du Plessis’ title which he won against Sean Strickland. It was a very controversial split-decision win, with many believing that Strickland had done enough to win. Even Dana White was on record, saying he felt Strickland had won. Talks over a rematch were mentioned. However, it never got made. Strickland faced Paulo Costa at UFC 301, beating him as waits for another title shot.

Fight Announcement

The Du Plessis-Adesanya fight has been some time in the making. They were meant to fight once Du Plessis beat Robert Whittaker. However, that broke down once Strickland defeated Adesanya. Izzy then took some time away from the sport. He claimed he had no intention to fight for the belts. But after having had some time off, an agreement was reached.

“The SUN of Africa is the same sun that lights up our planet. [And] the SUN will set and will rise again until you walk into it. The SUN, enjoy while it shines. Darkness falls when it’s gone,” Adesanya

“Apparently he already announced his own fight. He’s fighting in Perth. Du Plessis. 17 August in Perth. Now it’s official. He didn’t tell us. I saw that he had announced it. There it is. It’s true,” Dana White

The two fighter came face-to-face and had plenty to say during a fiery presser. Adesanya took aim at Du Plessis’ prior comments, saying he would be the first African to win the belt. This was a dig at Adesanya who was born in Nigeria, but lives in New Zealand. They refused to break eye contact during the stare down. The two were eventually separated.

Quotes

“Again, he tried to discredit the Three Kings and say that he’s the real true African champion. And I was just, like, it’s a weird mindset, bro. Like he came in the UFC, I knew who he was a little bit, but I didn’t go, ‘Oh, who the [hell] is this fake dude coming in?’ I just said, ‘Cool, he’s another African in the UFC. But then him discrediting me, Francis Ngannou, and Kamaru Usman, that ticked me off a little bit. So that’s what started this. But again, I’ll finish it,” Izzy

“I get into the Octagon, and I do my job. I do my business. You can be the biggest…[idiot] in the world, you can be the nicest guy in the world, I’m going out there to kill you and I hope you’re doing the same to me because otherwise it’s not going to be a good night for you.

As far as discrediting, I’ve never discredited anybody. Stating fact, where do I reside? What’s my postal code? Where do I train? Where do I live? [And] where was I born? In South Africa. I’m still there, still training and I won this belt from South Africa.Quite frankly I don’t care how it rubbed him off the wrong way, I don’t care,” Du Plessis

Comments

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.