Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis will lock horns this weekend at UFC 305, which will take place in Perth, Australia. It will be Du Plessis’s first-ever UFC middleweight title defense since winning it earlier this year. However, this fight is much more than a clash for the titles; fans are hyped for it.
Going into the fight, both Du Plessis and Adesanya share an intense rivalry. It all started when the South African called himself the real African. Thereby, Du Plessis discredited former African-born champions such as Kamaru Usman, Francis Ngannou, and Adesanya, AKA ‘The Three Kings.’ In a recent interview with TMZ, Izzy mentioned that DDP will never be as successful as the other African champions.
You can never ever discredit the three kings and it’s not even just because of the belts. F**k the belts. You are champion because of the way you carry yourself. Dricus would always be an African champion but he will never be one of three kings.
Israel Adesanya via TMZ
DDP states he’s the only African to stay and train from his country while others move to different countries. In the TMZ interview, Adesanya refuted this by mentioning that many African fighters leave their country due to financial struggles. However, Izzy believes Du Plessis’s privileged mind will not understand this.
Something similar was also said by African middleweight Abdul Razak Alhassan, who snapped at DDP for ignorance. According to Alhassan, he was poor, so he moved to get better opportunities. The rivalry has seen several opinions regarding race, and it will continue till fight night or even beyond. Nevertheless, all this drama has definitely kept fans on their toes as the fight night comes close.
How Israel Adesanya manifested his grudge fight with Dricus Du Plessis?
Dricus Du Plessis chased the middleweight title shot since early 2023. As a result, he was constantly targeting Israel Adesanya. This prompted Izzy to teach DDP a lesson in a potential fight. This got to a different level when both fighters came face to face after Du Plessis beat Robert Whittaker.
Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis (via X/Imago)
Israel Adesanya was present at UFC 290. After Du Plessis won, he went inside the octagon which was followed by an intense face-off with some racial trash-talking. Recently, from a UFC archive video, it was found out that Izzy wanted Du Plessis to beat Whittaker so that he would get an opportunity to fight.
I got what I needed to get from that interaction. I was very fired up, saw the fire right there. He started this completely on his own but I will end it.
Israel Adesanya via UFC 305 Countdown
Everything was set and fans were even expecting an African pay-per-view event to celebrate the rivalry. However, Izzy lost his belt to Sean Strickland. Now, Du Plessis managed to win it from the American star, and the tables have turned, but the dynamics are still the same. It would be interesting to see who comes out as the winner this Saturday.
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