- Israel Adesanya is not thinking about making a quick return or rematch with Dricus du Plessis
- Izzy gave “Stillknocks” the utmost respect and admitted that he has become a fan
Israel Adesanya admitted to becoming a fan of Dricus du Plessis and to not rushing back to the Octagon following his UFC 305 loss.
Izzy is taking it easy
An unusual Adesanya showed up in his post-UFC 305 presser. To everyone’s surprise, “The Last Stylebender” did not say salty things to his ultimate rival. Instead, Adesanya even confessed that he is now a fan of Du Plessis.
That said, Izzy also noted that he doesn’t feel the burning desire to obliterate “Stillknocks” like he used to. In fact, he’s not even in a hurry to return.
“I’m not really desperate to get it back. He [Du Plessis] gave me a lot of respect in there and I gave him his respect back. I already knew he was a fan of me. But now I’m a fan of his because we’ve been in there, we’ve done it. When I’m in South Africa, I’ll tap in with him. I said, ‘Look, we can hang out, but just so you know, when we have to fight again, I’m going to kill you.’ He’s lik,e ‘I’m going to kill you too.’ Respect is always there,” Adesanya said.
“It’s still destiny again. This is not what I planned. This is not what I manifested, but I believe in the strangest things. Everything happens for a reason. I’ve had situations in my life not go my way. Then later on, it makes sense why it didn’t go my way at the time because of certain things that could’ve happened to me. It’s still my destiny. It’s not about the belt. It’s not about all those things. It’s just about doing what I want to do in this game to close the show. Like I said, I still got a long way to go.”
Dricus will be an African inspiration
Like Du Plessis, Adesanya was also once the face of Africa. While “The Last Stylebender” believes he, Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou are still the best to ever represent Africa, Adesanya is certain Du Plessis will also be an inspiration for Africans in his own right.
“Dricus is an African champion. But the three kings [Adesanya, Usman and Ngannou] will reign supreme. That era right there was what set this off for people like him. He’s going to inspire another generation of African fighters as well. So congrats to him tonight. Until we meet again,” Adesanya reflected.
Adesanya has gone winless in his last two title fights. It is yet to be known what lies ahead of the former champ as it appears that Izzy would be taking some time to ponder things by himself for now.
As for Du Plessis, the reigning champ personally wants to give Robert Whittaker a rematch but he would not hesitate to face Sean Strickland if it’s the fight fans yearn to see.
Watch Izzy’s full presser below:
