Dricus Du Plessis recently questioned the authenticity of former African UFC champions.
This weekend at UFC 285 in Las Vegas, Du Plessis hopes to win the match. If he does so, it will be his seventh victory in a row. Du Plessis will inch closer to the middleweight title as he faces off against the No. 5 rated Derek Brunson.
Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, and Kamaru Usman are the three African-born athletes who won UFC world titles a year ago. White teased that the UFC would be hosting a historic event in Africa after seeing the success of the African champions.
Ngannou hails from Cameroon however he’s illegally immigrated to France. After sorting out his legal situation he ended up residing in Las Vegas. He still flies frequently to see family.
Adesanya immigrated to New Zealand from Nigeria when he was a kid. He represents New Zealand formally.
Kamaru Usman, also goes by Nigerian Nightmare, however the Nigerian nightmare wrestled in US college and has resided in Nebrasca since he was very young. He’s since relocated but still has a residence in US.
Now that the champions are no longer holding UFC belts, Du Plessis believes he has a stronger case than his fellow stars to be the new reason the UFC comes to Africa.
Du Plessis stated:
“Did those belts ever go to Africa? As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand. I’m going to take a belt to Africa.”
“I’m the African fighting in the UFC. Myself and Cameron [Saaiman], we breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we’re Africa born, we’re Africa raised, we still reside in Africa, we train out of Africa. That’s an African champion, and that’s who I’ll be.”
Du Pleiss currently has an 18-2 record. He is coming off the greatest victory of his career, a third-round submission of Darren Till at UFC 283.
Du Plessis had previously defeated opponents like Markus Perez, Trevin Giles, and Brad Tavares consecutively.