Israel Adesanya is open to beating up Dricus Du Plessis next time out.
Du Plessis is currently undefeated in the UFC and ranked sixth at middleweight and coming off a knockout win over Derek Brunson. However, the big storyline was him taking shots at the likes of Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya as he said they weren’t real Africans like him because they don’t live in Africa. Of course, Du Plessis resides in South Africa but both Usman and Adesanya were born in Nigeria.
“I’m the African fighter in the UFC. Myself and Cameron [Saaiman, Du Plessis’ teammate], we breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we’re African born, we’re African raised. We still reside in Africa, we train out of Africa. That’s an African champion, and that’s who I’ll be,” Du Plessis before UFC 285.
‘I will gladly drag his carcass across South Africa’
To no surprise, Israel Adesanya heard about Dricus Du Plessis’ comments and wasn’t a fan of them. After he knocked out Alex Pereira to become the middleweight champ he sent a frightening message to Du Plessis.
“But he’s gotta do work. He’s gotta do something. Show me something so I can whoop that ass and I can show you history. I’ll remind you. Because you gotta choose your words wisely when you speak on people that have come before you. People that paved the way for you. You’ve got to pick your words wisely,” Adesanya said about Du Plessis after UFC 287. “You want to try and be a big boy? I don’t want to give him no clout, but if he does work – and I pray to God he keeps winning – I will gladly drag his carcass across South Africa.”
Lol he only on 8%. Look at my nostrils! pic.twitter.com/pv6lS5dFNm
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) April 21, 2023
As of right now, both Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis do not have their next fight booked so perhaps they will be matched up against one another. If they are, it seems like there will be a ton of trash-talking in the lead-up to the scrap.