In a week’s time, the UFC returns to the PPV platform for a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis. For Du Plessis, it is a chance to defend his belt for the first time, for Adesanya it is a chance to win his coveted title back. However, the title fight also marks another impressive record for Adesanya.
Adesanya made his UFC debut in February 2018. ‘The last Style Bender’ maintained insane activity levels and found himself fighting for a title just a little over a year later.
After winning the belt against Robert Whittaker at UFC 243, Adesanya defended the middleweight belt an impressive five times.
As it turns out, when he steps into the octagon in Australia against DDP, it will be his 12th straight title fight. For more context, the last time, Izzy wasn’t in the title picture was over 5 years ago.
Credit: Imago
The fight being talked about here is Adesanya’s UFC 236 fight against Kelvin Gastelum from April 2019.
Adesanya fought for a UFC belt for the first time six months later and has been involved in a title fight either as the champion or challenger ever since.
His most recent title fight was against Sean Strickland at UFC 293, which was his first title defense after winning it back in style, knocking out Alex Pereira at UFC 287. Strickland ended up causing an upset as Izzy couldn’t hang with the American. Since then, he has been on a break, waiting for the right opportunity.
And it would appear, DDP has come knocking at his door with the ‘real African champion’ comments.
‘The Last Style Bender’ will be aiming to not only win back the belt but also hold onto it for a longer time this time around at UFC 305. Besides, he’s got a personal score to settle.
Adesanya bashes ‘privileged’ Dricus Du Plessis
It is well known that Adesanya and Du Plessis do not see eye to eye. The origin of the beef between the two stems back to the fact that Du Plesis branded Adesanya ‘not a real African champion’ as he lives and trains in New Zealand. ‘Stillknocks’ on the other hand is from South Africa.
What he conveniently forgot was the nature of the country and the continent at the time that forced the Adesanyas to move out and seek greener pastures elsewhere.
In a recent interview with TMZ, ‘Izzy’ explained that individuals such as him and Francis Ngannou were forced to flee their country in order for a better life.
He stated that Du Plessis would never understand their struggles as he was privileged and lived a sheltered life in a gated community.
The former champion also stressed that fighters such as the former UFC heavyweight champion and himself paved the way for Du Plessis to become a champion today and therefore, he should be more respectful.
