UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier believes the stakes are very high for UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya ahead of his fight with Dricus Du Plessis.
Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) emerged as the No. 1 contender when he stopped former champion Robert Whittaker by second-round TKO this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In attendance was middleweight champion Adesanya, who hoped Du Plessis would get his hand raised after the South African fighter made some comments that bothered him. Du Plessis claimed that he would be the first true African champion if he were to realize his goal since he still trains and resides in Africa. Nigeria-born Adesanya, who lives in New Zealand, didn’t take well to Du Plessis’ comments and confronted him in the octagon, lobbing numerous N-words at him while getting in his face.
