Dricus Du Plessis explains why he walked away from Israel Adesanya during confrontation at UFC 290: “I don’t want to be a part of this”

Dricus du Plessis has explained why he opted to walk away from Israel Adesanya during their intense showdown at UFC 290.

Following his win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 290, Dricus du Plessis was confronted by Israel Adesanya in the Octagon. The encounter featured plenty of slurs coming from Adesanya, some of them being of a racial nature. It seemed as if du Plessis wasn’t too interested in engaging with the champion, preferring to wait until he gets in the cage with him again before letting his fists do the talking.

RELATED: ISRAEL ADESANYA TALKS CONTROVERSIAL DRICUS DU PLESSIS UFC 290 FACE-OFF: “I LOST MY S*IT”

While du Plessis seemingly won’t take on Adesanya at UFC 293 as many had expected, it’s still a match-up we should anticipate down the line. In a recent interview, Dricus spoke candidly about their interaction.

“This sport is so amazing and it’s given so many people so many things, and bringing race, color, racial slurs, all of that stuff into it, immediately made me think, I don’t want to be a part of this. That’s why I just walked away. I’m not going to engage in that. That is not the example I want to set for people, that is not what my message to anybody in the world is.

du Plessis vs Adesanya continues

“He can do whatever he wants. Like Dana said, he can say whatever he wants and yeah, he can. I’m just not entertaining that. I’m not entertaining any talk about racial slurs that he’s been using. It doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t offend me, it has no affect on me. What it does do, people that are looking up to me, see that too. The people that I try to influence see that too, and I don’t want to be any part of that.”

Do you agree with Dricus du Plessis? Let us know, BJPENN Nation!