As expected, the argument over African heritage has become a talking point ahead of the upcoming UFC 305 pay-per-view (PPV) main event this weekend in Perth, where Dricus Du Plessis defends his 185-pound strap against former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
Du Plessis, who hails from South Africa, ruffled a few feathers by suggesting he would become the first UFC champion to be born, raised, and still-residing in Africa, unlike Adesanya — who alongside Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou — relocated to other parts of the world.
“I want him to take accountability for his remarks,” Adesanya told TMZ Sports. “Abdul Razak [Alhassan] said it before his fight about three weeks ago, saying, ‘I respect Dricus, but he’s a b*tch for what he said.’ He’s a b*tch. Because Dricus is saying, ‘I trained in Africa, I do this in Africa,’ and people like Razak and myself who are forced to flee our own country because of a better opportunity, he’ll never understand that because he lives behind the f*cking gates of his privileged life in South Africa, and he’s able to do that there.”
Based on this video, it appears Du Plessis has the unconditional support of South African fight fans.
“So, someone like Francis [Ngannou], who had to cross the desert to go overseas to go train,” Adesanya continued. “If you know Francis’ story, you can’t call him not a real African champion because he didn’t train in Africa. Like, bro. Are you f*cking kidding? The guy got sent back out to the desert six, seven times to go die, and he survived.”
Don’t expect UFC CEO Dana White to get involved in this debate.
“Even without Francis being champion, without myself being champion, without Kamaru being champion, he would have never been champion,” Adesanya said. “We paved the way for him, and then he comes out there and tries to take it all for himself. What kind of mindset is it that you see three African champions and you’re going to be the fourth one? That’s a colonist mindset. He doesn’t understand the error of his ways, but I will show him the way. He will always be an African champion, but he’ll never be one of the three kings.”
Adesanya, Usman, and Ngannou were dubbed the “Three Kings” of UFC after holding championship titles at the same time, even though “The Last Stylebender” and “The Nigerian Nightmare” failed to “sack up” when “The Predator” went to war with UFC.
To see who else is fighting at UFC 305 this weekend in Perth click here.