We’ve seen it happen time and time again where the tension that exists pre-fight between two competitors is put to bed once they meet inside the Octagon. This was certainly the case in the main event of UFC 305 in August where Israel Adesanya returned to challenge Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title.
The feud dated back over a year and reached boiling point following Du Plessis’ win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 where in his post-fight interview, he was joined in the cage by Adesanya for a heated exchange. Unfortunately, “Stillknocks” wasn’t able to make the quick turn around to fight the champion at UFC 293 but with Adesanya losing the title only for Du Plessis to win it from Sean Strickland at UFC 297, the match-up came back around.
After Du Plessis submitted “The Last Stylebender” in the fourth round to defend the title in Perth, they shared a brief but respectful exchange in the immediate aftermath. Footage later came out on social media of one final meeting between them backstage where they pleasantly parted ways.
In a recent appearance on Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant podcast, Adesanya spoke about putting the rivalry with Du Plessis to bed.
“Yeah we’re cool. After the fight, we had a nice discussion, yeah it was cool. Just like a moment and then at the end he said, ‘If you’re ever in South Africa, you know, tap in’ and I was like ‘yeah sure’ and I said when I see you again, I’ll try and kill you and he goes ‘I’ll try and kill you too’ and we just hugged.”
He said that despite the animosity that previously existed between them, it’s normal for fighters to shake hands and put the past behind them after competing against one another.
“That’s how most fighters are, there’s only some who take it to that place and then like keep it like that after the fight but nah, we’re all on the same journey and again, he’s achieved his dream now.”