Another title run has just begun at 185lbs.
The UFC Middleweight title has been on the move with Alex Pereira, Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland all holding down the title at one point in the last 14 months. Now it belongs to Dricus Du Plessis, who’d decisively defeat Strickland over the distance at UFC 297.
Du Plessis: ‘Is There Anyone That Thinks I Lost The Fight?’
Of course, DDP’s split decision victory wouldn’t come without some controversy as some scorecards had the fight in favor of Strickland instead. Post-fight, UFC CEO Dana White revealed he had scored it for the defending champ, too.
“For the record, is there anyone that thinks I lost the fight? Dana said it? Bullsh*t’,” Du Plessis said at the UFC 297 post-fight press conference. “Let’s just talk about the emotions I felt when we started hearing one judge, one judge, and now I go, ‘oh sh*t’. I honestly thought I did enough.”
It was a close fight, make no mistake, but I thought I had it. When that split decision came, I just went, ‘okay, this is 100% 50-50.'”
‘I Thought I Did Enough To Win…’
Thankfully for Du Plessis, judges Derek Cleary and Eric Colon believed the South African had done enough in five rounds to secure the title win.
“When they said ‘And New!’, it felt like 15 years of work, of dreaming, of sacrificing, of everything, came together in one single sentence. It’s incredible. It feels surreal. It’s amazing.”
“I thought I did enough to win the fight,” Du Plessis restated. “It was definitely a close fight. I definitely gave him the first round and I made the necessary adjustments in the fifth round. I wouldn’t give him the round i thought at the end. I don’t know how they scored it to be honest.”
Du Plessis continued in his review of how he felt the fight went.
“It was a close fight, I’m not gonna lie. It was one of those fights where there wasn’t even time to really think of what is happening. But, I do believe with the takedowns that I got, it was very back-and-forth with the striking, one for him, one for me. I tried to stay ahead with the takedowns by around four and five. He did a good job of defending those, but obviously my takedowns got a bit sloppy and he started reading them. But those takedowns weren’t really for getting a takedown, they were more to disrupt his game plan.
“But at the end of the day, I went toe to toe with the self-proclaimed and some people think best boxer in the UFC.”
Du Plessis Down To Fight Adesanya Next… At UFC 300
The South African sported some major bruising over his eyes, courtesy of Strickland’s jab that was landing all night long. Still though, the battle-damaged Du Plessis says he’s ready to return against Israel Adesanya as early as April.
“A little bit of damage? Do you remember how handsome I was before this fight?” Du Plessis said of his appearance. “I look like a cauliflower now, but yeah I’m pretty banged up right now. Listen, I’m up for another round if they wanna go right now. But yeah, I don’t wanna put a timeline on it, but UFC 300 [vs. Adesanya] sounds amazing.”
‘It’s Nothing Personal’, It’s Just Business
Despite a past war of words between the two, Du Plessis reckons ‘The Last Stylebender’ is no grudge match for him.
“Oh no, it’s nothing personal,” Du Plessis said of a potential fight with Adesanya. “It’s not personal at all. That’s just the fight the fans wanna see. I wanna fight the best competition. There’s a lot of guys that are gonna be fighting, but the fans wanna see Israel Adesanya versus Dricus Du Plessis. There’s a lot of hype that was already built on it.
“If the fans go, if there’s some way they start tracking and saying, listen, the fans don’t really wanna see Adesanya vs. Du Plessis, if we don’t do that fight next, it’s fine to me. I don’t care who it is, but that’s just a fight on top of my head that I think the people wanna see. That’s gonna get a lot of people excited.”
Israel Adesanya previously squared off with Dricus Du Plessis after his destruction of Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. ‘Stillknocks’ was even up for a title shot at UFC 293, but the injured fighter decided to sit out and let Sean Strickland have a go at UFC gold himself.
