Although it was controversial, the UFC got its new champion as Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland at UFC 297 and claimed the middleweight title. Soon after the win, the South African fighter challenged his long-time opponent, Israel Adesanya, to fight against him in his next bout. Meanwhile, in a recent conversation with Jon Anik and Kenny Florian, DDP’s manager Danny Rubenstein shared that the new champion is ready to headline against Izzy and Alex Pereira.
Rubenstein revealed that the callout to Adesanya was premeditated. He had discussions with the former UFC champ’s manager to confirm Adesanya’s readiness for a fight at UFC 300. After the confirmation, DDP made the call out to Izzy, and if not Adesanya he was prepared to call out Pereira. In his words,
“He wasn’t going to call out Izzy if Izzy wasn’t gonna be ready. Like I hit up Izzy’s manager I was like, ‘hey is Izzy gonna be ready we gonna call out Izzy if he’s gonna be ready. But if he is not ready for (UFC) 300 then I don’t want Dricus barking up the wrong tree like we’ll call out Alex Pereira as he’s right there in the octagon.’ So they told me Izzy would be ready.”
According to his coach, there is no point in wasting time on the wrong person who isn’t interested, so he first confirmed it and then challenged him. Although he was open to fighting Pereira.
Meanwhile, even though now, as per his coach, despite Adesanya’s openness, he will prioritize health over the fight.
Manager of Dricus Du Plessis claims DDP will prioritize health over UFC 300
After the tough bout against Strickland, DDP showed signs of significant damage, bearing bruises from the fight. According to his manager, even though fighting at UFC 300 would bring substantial financial gains, DDP is currently prioritizing his health to ensure he retains the championship. He stated,
“There is a huge incentive for him to be healthy and try to headline UFC 300. I mean he wants to do it. But it’s just about making sure that he’s healthy. I think the belt and retaining championship is more important than fighting on UFC 300.”
Going by the statement made by the coach, it now seems that the bout at UFC 300 is off, given health priority. It will be interesting to see when he’ll be fighting next, as the opponent, which appears nearly certain, is Adesanya.
