UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya had an ugly face-off with his next title challenger Dricus Du Plessis.
Du Plessis knocked out Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 in Las Vegas on Saturday night to set up a middleweight title fight with current champion Adesanya. The pair are expected to meet at an upcoming pay-per-view event on September 10 in Sydney, Australia. Adesanya was in attendance for Du Plessis' win and he got in the cage to staredown with his next title challenger.
Adesanya began shouting at Du Plessis during the face-off as he said: “This is my African brother right here, let’s go n****, what’s up b****? Let’s go n****, here n****. Wassup n****? Yeah, my African brother." Du Plessis replied to his rival's taunts: "I’m African but I ain’t no brother of yours, son."
What were your thoughts on Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis' staredown? Let us know in the comments section below
UFC commentator Joe Rogan asked Du Plessis for his thoughts on facing Adesanya later this year, but before he could respond Adesanya cut him off by saying: “I don’t need a DNA test to know where I’m from. I will show you where you’re from. It’s an easy fight. It’s easy money. I said I was going to have this moment.”
Adesanya's feud with Du Plessis comes after he took offence to the South African questioning if his and Kamaru Usman's world titles ever went to Africa, as the two fighters are African-born but reside in America and New Zealand respectively. 'The Last Stylebender' has since vowed to "beat Du Plessis until he's black" as their rivalry continues to escalate despite a fight between them not yet being made official.
Du Plessis slammed Adesanya's behaviour in the cage as he said: "The only thing I made of that is, it's usually the contender that goes into the cage. Right? So even he sees me as the champion already, he knows I'm the champion. Now that he's seen me in that cage, he knows what a force I am in there. I'll knock him out just like I did to Whittaker tonight,"
"I'm prepared for everything and anything he says. He is behaving like a clown in there. That's not how a champion or a man behaves, he's conducting himself like a child. Conduct yourself like a champion, there's people looking up to you and behave like that? If that sells tickets, good for him. I'll sell tickets my way, I'm a gentleman and I'll behave like a man."
