Dricus du Plessis defeated former champion and long-time rival Israel Adesanya via submission at UFC 305 and is now taking the middleweight title back to South Africa. But for Izzy, the reign of “The Three Kings” stands tall no matter what!
Following the devastating loss, ‘The Last Stylebender’ shared his thoughts on the fight at the post-fight presser, giving DDP his flowers as a true African champion. But it would have been amiss if he didn’t mention the big 3 that set the road that the South African walks on.
Giving due credit to the reign of the Three Kings, heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, Welterweight great Kamaru Usman and himself as the middleweight champion, Izzy said:
“Dricus (du Plessis) is an African champion but you know, the three kings will reign supreme. That era right there was what set off for people like him and he’s going to inspire another generation of African fighters as well. So congrats to him for tonight.”
In a fight that had more on the line than just the middleweight title, both fighters left the octagon with a ton of respect and du Plessis taking the belt back to South Africa.
Prior to the fight, the two seemingly had been going at each other for months after DDP had dismissed the Three Kings and declared himself the real African champion as he was the only one who actually resided and trained in the continent.
Despite the genuine bad blood between the two, Dricus gave props to Izzy, expressing how grateful he is to share the octagon with a champion kickboxer like Adesanya.
DDP showers praise on Adesanya after submission win
The raucous crowd in Perth certainly got their money’s worth with their heroes winning big before the big main event took over. While the MW gold was on the line, it was pride that kept both Izzy and du Plessis going as both wanted to prove that he was the true African champ.
The Proteas started strong, delivering high kick after another only to be blocked by Adesanya but pushed the pace from the get-go.
Dricus then started shooting for takedowns while firing away shots on his feet as he switched between orthodox and southpaw. Izzy on the other hand got to work on his opponent’s body, cracking the champ with crisp body shots to overwhelm him in the later rounds. And to an extent, he found success. du Plessis had considerably slowed down after R3 and looked off.
But, the champion showed that African grit and wobbled Adesanya with a right hook.
Exploiting this opening, he shot for the takedown before firing a few more shots and got to Izzy’s back from where he submitted the former champ employing a rear naked choke. Following the bout, du Plessis was seen emotional, paying his respects to his opponent, Adesanya, who according to him was,
“One of the greatest fighters ever Not in the middleweight division, not in the UFC, but in MMA, one of the best to ever do it!”
