Israel Adesanya sends four-word message on Dricus du Plessis beef in the wake of UFC 305 news
Israel Adesanya has put forth a concise message for archrival Dricus du Plessis following the UFC's official announcement of their fight. 'The Last Stylebender' will face reigning UFC middleweight champion du Plessis for the title in the headlining match of UFC 305 (Aug. 18, 2024) in Perth, Australia.
Adesanya recently took to Instagram and confirmed that the long-running rumors of him facing du Plessis for the UFC middleweight title in Australia are true. Additionally, the UFC and CEO Dana White have announced the fight.
Adesanya, a Nigeria-born New Zealand fighter combat sports megastar, is a two-time former UFC middleweight champion. He is of African heritage and is one of the most famous African champions in UFC history. Alongside former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, he was a part of the 'Three Kings of Africa' when all three were champions.
However, in Aug. 2022, Usman lost his welterweight belt via fifth-round KO against Leon Edwards. As for Ngannou, he parted ways with the UFC in Jan. 2023, vacating his heavyweight belt. He signed with the PFL and has competed in the sport of boxing.
Meanwhile, Adesanya lost the UFC middleweight title to Sean Strickland via unanimous decision in Sept. 2023. Strickland then lost the title via split decision to du Plessis in Jan. 2024.
The South Africa-born du Plessis previously claimed that he's going to be the first UFC champion who was born, raised, and based in Africa. Adesanya felt that 'Stillknocks' had thereby questioned his (Adesanya's) African heritage. They've exchanged fiery jibes for years, besides having an intense face-off after du Plessis' win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 last July.
Watch their face-off below:
During their face-off, Adesanya repeatedly used a racial epithet and questioned du Plessis' African heritage, indicating that he was more African than the latter. In the same vein, after their UFC 305 fight announcement this week, Adesanya responded to a video clip of du Plessis' comments about wanting to be the UFC's first "real" African champion.
Adesanya implied that he'd never questioned du Plessis' African heritage and did so only after his real African comments. The former UFC middleweight champion tweeted:
"They not like us."
Israel Adesanya took a similar jab at Dricus du Plessis after UFC 290
Dricus du Plessis has consistently maintained that his being born, raised, and trained in Africa makes him a bonafide African champion. 'Stillknocks' has often alluded that Israel Adesanya, on the other hand, was born in the African nation of Nigeria but lives and trains in New Zealand.
Following their face-off at UFC 290 (July 2023), Adesanya made a similar tweet to the one he's posted now. 'The Last Stylebender' tweeted a video of du Plessis speaking about being a real African representative at a UFC press conference. The video also comprised footage of their UFC 290 face-off.
Adesanya notably lambasted du Plessis for trying to discredit the three African UFC champions.