UFC 293 headliner Israel Adesanya hasn’t forgotten about Dricus du Plessis: “I do want that fight”

By Fernando Quiles - August 27, 2023

UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya still has Dricus du Plessis on his radar.

Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis

Adesanya is scheduled to put his 185-pound gold at stake against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 on September 9 in Sydney, Australia. The initial plan was to have Adesanya and du Plessis fight for the middleweight title following “Stillknocks'” second-round TKO finish over Robert Whittaker. Things didn’t pan out as Dricus du Plessis wasn’t going to be healed in time for UFC 293.

RELATED: ISRAEL ADESANYA WARNS DRICUS DU PLESSIS THAT HE HAS NOT SECURED A TITLE OPPORTUNITY: “HE’S NOT CALLING THE SHOTS, I AM”

Israel Adesanya Still Wants Dricus du Plessis Fight

During an interview with Mike Bohn of MMAJunkie, Israel Adesanya admitted that he very much still wants to share the Octagon with du Plessis. Despite this, “The Last Stylebender” says the clock is ticking on the window for that fight to happen (h/t MMAFighting).

“We’ll see if he shows up but also, I’ll see how I feel,” Adesanya said. “I’ll see how I feel. I do want that fight. I feel like that will be one of the most important fights in sporting history. I mean that when I say in history. I’ll see how I feel because again, time keeps on ticking. Time waits for no man.”

Adesanya had a heated rant when he was face-to-face with du Plessis at UFC 290. During an appearance on “The MSP Show,” du Plessis shared why he walked away from the face-to-face encounter.

“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.”


Topics:

Dricus du Plessis Israel Adesanya UFC