Daniel Cormier is convinced Dricus Du Plessis is the one guy Israel Adesanya would not want to lose to given the ‘ugly’ nature of their rivalry.
Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is coming off a sensational win over former champion and longtime foe Alex Pereira in his last outing at UFC 287 three months ago. He scored a vicious knockout of Pereira to reclaim the title and finally hold a win over ‘Poatan’ in four contests. Following the win, Adesanya set his sights on Dricus Du Plessis for his next opponent.
Du Plessis shocked the MMA world by defeating Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 earlier this month. The victory earned him a title shot and a face-off with Adesanya inside the octagon to hype up the fight.
Daniel Cormier says Joe Rogan helped explain the rivalry between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis
In a recent YouTube video, Daniel Cormier shared that Joe Rogan helped break down the rivalry between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis.
“Rogan sat back down, Joe just has all this knowledge. I go what was that all about?” said Cormier. “He goes, well Dricus is Dutch and the Dutch colonists took over Africa and apartheid and he just went into this whole thing. He pulls up his phone and gives me a quick breakdown. I screen grab it and sent it to my group message. As they read it, they’re like as I get more and more into it I can see how Izzy was so upset because reality was it just looked like there was no direction behind it.
“Izzy using the word I did not like but when you really dig into it, telling three African champions that they’re not African, you can see where those guys would get upset.”
Cormier doubts there will be a resolution after the fight
‘DC’ isn’t sure whether the pair would be able to put their rivalry to rest after the fight and believes ‘Stillknocks’ is the one guy ‘Stylebender’ would not want to lose to.
“It’s an ugly thing but it is going to make for a crazy fight that we don’t have to wait long for. It’s going to happen in Australia in nine weeks. Dricus took no damage so they’re going to fight in September. It is literally going to happen very quickly and because of that we get to get some resolution to it. The reality is if it’s rooted in all this historical stuff that it is, there really won’t be resolution to it because then Izzy will still have the same types of feelings he has towards how his people were done by the people that colonized Africa. It will never have a resolution.”
“If Izzy wins, it’ll feel great for him but if he loses could you imagine? That’s the one guy he doesn’t want to lose to. You can’t lose to him. You’re in a situation where you can’t lose.”
Israel Adesanya is expected to face Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title on Sep. 10 in Australia. While the matchup appears solid, an official announcement on the booking is yet to follow.
