Israel Adesanya gives immediate reaction to Dricus du Plessis' title win and call-out - "I'm still gonna test that a**"
Israel Adesanya is happy that Dricus du Plessis claimed middleweight gold at UFC 297. 'The Last Stylebender' is now seeking retribution after the South African's fiery callout.
During his octagon interview following his title win, du Plessis reignited his feud with the former champion, saying:
"There is another guy, that tried to take my shine. He lost his shine, now I have your shine. You didn't get into the cage tonight but Israel Adesanya, get your a** back in the UFC so we can settle the score."
Catch Dricus du Plessis' comments below (5:07):
Reacting to the pay-per-view on his YouTube channel, Adesanya gave props to 'Stillknocks' for his game plan while teasing his plans to face the newly minted champion:
"He used it [his wrestling] at the end, which was smart of him to steal the rounds... From my estimate of watching this [rounds] three, four, five he took, and now he is the fourth African champion in UFC history. So congrats to you, my African brother, Dricus du Plessis... I'm actually legit happy for him, I actually like his story and whatnot, but he still did what he did, and I'm still gonna test that a**."
Catch Israel Adesanya's comments below (8:40):
Israel Adesanya is a two-time 185-pound champion in the UFC. He has been on a hiatus from the sport since his loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 last year. However, there are rumblings that the 34-year-old might make a return at UFC 300.
Dricus du Plessis on UFC 300 and fighting Israel Adesanya
Although he is a bit worse for wear after his competitive title clash the past weekend, Dricus du Plessis is not ruling out a return on the historic UFC 300 card. Addressing the possibility of making a quick turnaround for this April during the post-fight press conference at UFC 297, the South African champion said:
"I'm pretty banged up right now, [but] listen, I'm up for another round if they want to go right now, but I don't want to put a timeline on it, but UFC 300 sounds amazing."
Speaking about a potential fight against Israel Adesanya, 'Stillknocks' argued that it was a fight that fans are eager to see:
"It's nothing personal... that's just the fight that the fans want to see. I want to fight the best competition. There are a lot of guys that [I'm] going to be fighting, but the fans want to see Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus du Plessis."
Catch Dricus du Plessis' comments below (3:31):