Rising South African contender Dricus du Plessis claims he is not offended by racially-charged language from Israel Adesanya. But he insists there is no place for it in the sport, or in the world.
Dricus du Plessis is expected to miss out on a planned UFC 293 return against rival Israel Adesanya in a middleweight title match.
The main event of UFC 290 earlier this month during saw du Plessis most recently compete. He defeated Robert Whittaker in the second round via technical knockout.
After a spectacular win, du Plessis faced Adesanya in the Octagon for a face-off. During the confrontation, Adesanya used racially-charged language directed at du Plessis and called him the a n****a repeatedly. The incident has since been heavily criticized.. Adesanya is now anticipated to potentially compete against Sean Strickland in place of du Plessis.
In a recent interview on the Cameron MSP Saimon YouTube channel, Dricus du Plessis discussed his recent confrontation with rival Israel Adesanya at UFC 290. He said that he was not upset by the former’s racially charged rant and dissociated himself from any undertones.
Dricus du Plessis believes that the sport of MMA is amazing and has brought opportunities to many people. He says that introducing race and racial slurs into it detracts from its positive aspects. He made it clear that he wanted no part in such behavior and decided to walk away from the confrontation.
He said: “It does not belong in sports. It does not belong in the world, in my opinion. I do not want that part of anything that I’m doing. This sport is so amazing, and it’s given so many people so much things, and bringing race, color – racial slurs, all that stuff into it, immediately made me like, ‘I don’t want to be a part of it.’ That’s why I just walked away.”
Du Plessis also stated that he does not want to engage in any conversations about the racial slurs used by Adesanya. He wants to set a positive example for others and not promote such language or behavior. While he acknowledged that Adesanya has the freedom to say what he wants, he personally chooses not to entertain or endorse any form of racial slurs.
He continued: “I don’t want to engage in that. That is not the example I wanna set for people. That is not the message to anybody in the world is. I guess, he (Israel Adesanya) can do whatever he wants. Like Dana (White) said, ‘He can say whatever he wants.’ Yeah, he can. I’m not entertaining that.”
“I’m not entertaining any talk about the racial slurs that he’s been using. And it doesn’t bother me. People are like, ‘Does it offend you? ’It doesn’t offend me, it has no effect one me. What it does do is – people that are looking up to me, see that too. The people that I influence see that too. And I don’t want to be any part of that.”