Dricus Du Plessis says he’s open to fighting Israel Adesanya at UFC 300: “Give the fans what they want”

If Dricus du Plessis wins the middleweight title on Saturday, he’s down to face Israel Adesanya at UFC 300 in April.

‘Stillknocks’ is currently set to face Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 297 this Saturday night. In the first title shot of his career, the South African will face the newly crowned champion, Sean Strickland. ‘Tarzan’ famously captured the title last September, with a unanimous decision win over Israel Adesanya.

In the event that Dricus du Plessis can defeat Strickland this weekend, he would love to welcome ‘The Last Stylebender’ back to the octagon. Following his loss in September, Israel Adesanya announced plans for a lengthy hiatus. As of now, he has no return to the cage scheduled. However, Adesanya has instead teased that it will be “soon”.

Dricus du Plessis believes that the perfect place for Israel Adesanya to return is UFC 300 in April. Speaking in a recent interview with Chisanga Malata, the South African stated that he was open to a quick turnaround. It’s less of an interest in facing Adesanya, however, and more of an interest in fighting at the milestone event.

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Dricus du Plessis open to facing Israel Adesanya at UFC 300 in April

“That is 11 weeks, right? For me, I have a very, very good team around me.” Dricus du Plessis stated in the interview when asked about fighting Israel Adesanya at UFC 300. “Obviously as fighters, we carry small injuries, we carry niggles, we always do. I have nothing serious as of now. Obviously, I have fight camp niggles, that’s it. One thing that I did learn from the Robert Whittaker fight is that don’t commit to fights before you have another fight. Because you’d get crucified for that.”

He continued, “But that would be amazing, that would be a historic event and that would be absolutely awesome. That’s a massive payday, that’s legacy UFC 300 being part of that. And to give the fans what they want in me versus Israel Adesanya. So yeah, I would love that.”

The addition of a middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya to UFC 300 would only make the card bigger. As of now, the milestone event only has a few matchups attached. However, Dana White did announce several big matchups earlier this week, including Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje.

It is worth noting, however, that if Sean Strickland wins at UFC 297, he’s admitted to having no interest in fighting Israel Adesanya at UFC 300. Given his lopsided victory over ‘The Last Stylebender’ last September, that’s not exactly surprising. Although, the champion has admitted that he would fight Adesanya again if the company asked him to.

What do you make of these comments? Do you want to see Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya at UFC 300? Who do you have in that potential middleweight bout?