Du Plessis has Adesanya in tears after questioning the former champ about his ‘privileged’ life in Nigeria with servants.
Things got emotional in Perth Australia on Friday during the final press conference for UFC 305, with Israel Adesanya breaking down into tears after Dricus Du Plessis grilled him over having servants when he was a youth in Nigeria.
It’s not the first time the subject came up, and it all has to do with Adesanya calling Du Plessis privileged for growing up in the gated communities of Pretoria, South Africa while his family was forced to leave Nigeria for New Zealand to have a better life.
On Tuesday, Du Plessis fired back at Adesanya over those comments, bringing up a 2020 ESPN profile piece where Adesanya described not knowing how to bathe himself until he was eight because servants were the ones that did that for him.
“I can cry and whoop your a** at the same time.”
Israel Adesanya in tears following a heated exchange with Dricus Du Plessis at the #UFC305 press conference
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) August 16, 2024
“That’s rich coming from somebody who lives in a first-world country,” Du Plessis told Fox Sports Australia. “A man who had servants bathe him until the age of eight. He’s talking about privilege? The guy who grew up in a wealthy family, with servants, and now lives in a first-world country. Interesting.”
“Okay, let’s say I was raised in privilege,” he continued. “So was he. But I decided to stay. And now you’re sitting in a first-world country saying South Africa is a place with all these amazing facilities? I dunno, man. He’s trying to win people over by making this a political thing. But that’s not what it has ever been about. And he can’t be that stupid, to take things out of context that much. I’ve never said I’m more African than him, yet that’s the narrative he is trying to push. I just stated that I’m the first residing African champion, which I am. And I think he’s angry because I’m right.”
“He’s angry because when he was champion, it was great and it was special because he was African born. And it was amazing. Himself, Kamaru Usman, Francis Ngannou, it was massive for Africa when they all became champions. But just like you have a UFC champion, then a double champion, so there are levels to this. And now you have an African champion who was born there and still resides there. It’s called jealousy.”
When Izzy said he’d bring the middleweight title back to Nigeria on Friday, Dricus fired back “Will you be taking the servants with you?”
“Bro shut the f—k up,” Adesanya replied. “You don’t know anything about my story! You have no idea who the f—k I am,” Adesanya yelled. “Listen, my father and my self had to wake up at 4 a.m. and clean the banks while my mom studied to be a nurse. You don’t know my f—king story.”
The event led to a vulnerable moment for “The Last Stylebender,” who cried on stage thinking about the hardships his family went through.
“I’m a f—ing human being. I’m a man,” Adesanya said through tears. “I can cry and whoop your ass at the same time. I feel the love from the crowd. First time I fought here, [UFC] 221, that was February 2018, that was me making my dream come true. Sunday, I’m going to f—ing kill your dreams, b—h!”
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