Israel Adesanya reveals he was pushing UFC to match him with OG African Dricus Du Plessis

UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, recently disclosed that he had offered to face Dricus du Plessis but the UFC declined the proposal. Additionally, he shared some insights about his upcoming return to the octagon.

On April 8, Israel Adesanya reclaimed his belt by defeating his long-standing rival, Alex Pereira, at UFC 287.

Despite having suffered three previous defeats, fate took a different turn in their most recent showdown, granting “The Last Stylebender” a satisfying victory. After a fierce battle, Adesanya successfully knocked out Pereira in the final minute of the second round.

With the score between the two now tied at 1-1 in MMA, a trilogy bout would be an ideal spectacle.

Unfortunately, Pereira is making a move up to the light heavyweight division, making it unlikely for the trilogy to come to fruition. As a result, Adesanya’s options for potential adversaries have become limited..

Meanwhile, a rising star in the middleweight category, Dricus du Plessis, stirred up controversy with Adesanya by questioning the African status of UFC champions that were living elsewhere. UFC’s so called African Kings hail out of Cameroon and Nigeria – but Ngannou and Usman live in the US and Adesanya resides in New Zealand.

Adesanya was triggered by this statement and was allegedly blowing up White’s phone after UFC 287.

Given the fans’ desire to witness their confrontation inside the octagon, Adesanya proposed the match to the UFC. Unfortunately, he revealed that the organization turned down his offer.

On his channel, Adesanya revealed:

” I was like, July,”

“I tried to do du Plessis in the f***in Death Star. I tried, I was like, I don’t even maybe International fight week because it was already booked, but I tried it for like later on. ”

“I was just like, f*** it, just give them to me because it’s already there. And I’m just I. Yeah, what’s the point? Why wait? ”

Dricus du Plessis is currently slated to face former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 293 in September, taking place in Sydney, Australia. Adesanya, on the other hand, will square off against the victor of the Whittaker versus du Plessis bout.

Undoubtedly, Dricus du Plessis poses a significant threat to the UFC middleweight division.

This 29-year-old African joined the UFC in 2020 and has emerged victorious in all five of his matches, with four of them culminating in finishes.

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His most recent triumph occurred in March when he secured a second-round technical knockout against Derek Brunson. With a seven-win streak and an overall record of 19 wins and 2 losses, du Plessis will live through the biggest test of his MMA career against the versatile Whittaker.