Israel Adesanya eager to make Dricus du Plessis “accountable” for African champion comments at UFC 305
Israel Adesanya plans on making Dricus du Plessis pay for his "blasphemous" comments about the UFC's African champions when they clash at UFC 305. The pair will headline the pay-per-view card, with the middleweight title on the line.
Du Plessis burst onto the promotion's stage in late-2020, securing finishes in his first two appearances in the octagon. 'Stillknocks' stated that his desire was to be the first "real African champion" in the promotion, a statement that did not sit well with Adesanya, who was the middleweight champion at the time.
'The Last Stylebender' made his frustrations known following his KO win over Alex Pereira at UFC 287, promising to make the South African pay for his words.
The former two-time middleweight king will now have the opportunity to do so, with the pair scheduled to clash on Aug. 17 at UFC 305. Ahead of the bout, Adesanya was interviewed by MMAJunkie, where he discussed his beef with Du Plessis, saying:
"It's not really personal, but what he said was blasphemous because without myself, Francis [Ngannou] and Kamaru [Usman], he wouldn't be able to be champion... What he said was really blasphemous and he'll take accountability for what he said. He'll be forced to."
Watch Israel Adesanya's interview below (5:20):
Alexander Volkanovski predicts Israel Adesanya will be as good as ever against Dricus du Plessis
Israel Adesanya suffered an upset defeat to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September 2023 to lose the middleweight title. Following the result, he announced that he would be taking a hiatus from fighting to deal with several injuries, and enjoy some time away from competition.
Strickland was defeated by Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 297 in January, setting up a highly anticipated clash with Adesanya.
Ahead of the return of 'The Last Stylebender', his teammate Alexander Volkanovski has shared an exciting preview of his comeback fight. 'The Great' expects Adesanya to replicate his dominant display against Paulo Costa at UFC 253, arguably his best career performance.
During a recent interview with talkSPORT MMA, he said:
"We're gonna see him coming back, I think he's gonna look incredible. Dricus is a tough guy, great fighter. But I think this Israel that's gonna turn up is gonna be one of those, you know when he comes back and you see a Paulo Costa performance, or even the first Robert Whittaker performance."
Watch Alexander Volkanovski discuss Israel Adesanya's return below (6:15):