Quickest way to avoid an Alex Pereira trilogy?
Get the combat sports community hyped for a middleweight title fight against Dricus Du Plessis, who is the winner of seven straight and currently ranked No. 6 at 185 pounds. That appears to be the strategy of Israel Adesanya, who fired off another round of incendiary comments about “Stillknocks” after stopping “Poatan” at UFC 287 last weekend in Miami.
“So you won’t say my name, that’s smart you better not,” Du Plessis wrote on Instagram. “I don’t need your airtime at all, I have my whole continent of AFRICA behind me. Go enjoy your very spectacular victory at home in New Zealand.”
Du Plessis has been waging war against MMA fighters who claim to represent Africa, insisting the UFC belts never spent any time on African soil (read those comments here). Since the promotion does not yet have a definitive timeline for staging an event in Africa, Du Plessis is prepared to fight in neutral territory.
“UFC Africa is far from being done, at least another year,” Du Plessis continued. “I’ll meet you on neutral ground this year and if you still feel so strongly after facing me and I take your belt home I’ll give you another chance to come and try face me on MY HOME soil of Africa. We are Africa we fear nothing and certainly nobody.”
No word yet on how UFC plans to book Adesanya in the latter half of 2023.