The budding rivalry between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya reached a boiling point following the South African’s triumph over Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 last summer.
In that moment, tensions flared when Adesanya entered the Octagon to confront Du Plessis, setting the stage for a future title bout between the two middleweights. Du Plessis had drawn Adesanya’s ire when he referred to himself as “the African fighter in the UFC” during a media day event in 2023, and that anger was reflected when the Nigerian-born Kiwi addressed Du Plessis in the cage that night.
The highly-anticipated showdown between Adesanya and Du Plessis took some time to materialize, but the two will finally meet more than a year later in the UFC 305 headliner on Saturday at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. Now, however, their roles are reversed: Du Plessis is the champion and Adesanya is the challenger. In an interview with Fox Sports Australia, Du Plessis noted that Adesanya has been more subdued during promotion for their championship bout than he was after UFC 290.
“It was interesting because, prior to that press conference I was waiting to see what type of energy Adesanya brought because I was going to match it,” Du Plessis said. “I was wondering if he would come out with a new fire, or maybe a different strategy. But he came out exactly as I thought he would. After our previous encounter inside the Octagon, he was behaving like a fool and I think he’s taken a step back and said ‘I can’t do that’. It was a very emotional response and he can’t afford that again because it was a big loss for him.”
Du Plessis claims that even if Adesanya had attempted to increase the intensity during their press conference, it wouldn’t have affected him all that much.
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“I don’t behave emotionally because I’m in control of what I do,” he said. So there’s nothing he can ever say that would get me angry or upset. When you start behaving emotionally like that, it’s a loss.”
Du Plessis also stood by his controversial remarks.
“Would I have worded it differently if I had my time over? No,” Du Plessis said. “I would’ve done it exactly the same. Because it’s the truth. People make the mistake of thinking I said that to steal shine or discredit, not at all. It’s all about my own goal; being the first residing African champion. Did he misinterpret that? I [don’t know]. But if you understand English, the words I said were very specific. Maybe he did try to take something out of it that wasn’t there but that’s none of my concern.”
