Israel Adesanya is quickly throwing gasoline on a whole lot of fires while he begins his second reign as the UFC Middleweight Champion. He re-captured the crown from Alex Pereira at UFC 287, mocking his fallen opponent’s son, and then continued talking trash about the former champ and nearly everyone else in the division.
Izzy’s behavior toward Periera’s 12-year-old drew some criticism from those in the MMA world such as Henry Cejudo, but he’s also gotten in a back and forth through the media with up and coming star Dricus Du Plessis.
Du Plessis like Adesanya has also drawn his fair share of criticism from many in the MMA world when he declared that if he won the title, that it would be “African champion.” As a native of South Africa, he lives and trains on the continent. That’s something that other fighters from that part of the world have often chosen not to do.
When du Plessis made this point, it was widely believed that his comments were specifically directed at Nigerian Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou, who is of Cameroonian descent. But it was especially intended to target Adesanya, who was born in Nigeria but now resides in New Zealand.
Israel Adesanya made note of the comments following his win at UFC 287. While he didn’t mention du Plessis by name, he made it evident who he was referring to. Especially when he was quoted as saying he’ll “gladly drag his carcass across South Africa” in a potential fight.
RELATED: Henry Cejudo Says Alex Pereira Should Take Israel Adesanya Taunting His Son “Extremely Personal”
Du Plessis, currently, the No. 6-ranked Middleweight contender, was more than happy to respond.
“For him saying that does he think I’m scared of him?” du Plessis told The MMA Hour. “I am not scared of that man. The fact that he put some threats out there, obviously he’s forgotten because I don’t take kindly to threats. Over here, it doesn’t work like that. If you want to make threats, come and show me.”
“Come and show me how you drag my carcass around. I would love to see you try,” he declared.
“And like I said in that message: (the) UFC Africa (event) is far away from being done,” he continued. “It’s probably going to happen next year. I don’t want to wait that long. I will beat him this year, and after that fight, if he still feels like he has all this power over me and he’s trying to intimidate me, that’s good.”
“Then come to Africa next year, and we’ll fight for the belt in a rematch where I’m the champion. Because that fight’s not happening this year, and he does not scare me. Not one little bit.”
UFC President Dana White has stated that Adesanya will defend his title soon, but he did not directly name du Plessis as the next challenger.
“This guy was already blowing Hunter and the boys up (saying) when’s my next fight, when’s my next fight? I want to fight again,” said White. “I love that about Israel Adesanya. Israel Adesanya wants to fight non-stop, constantly, and he wants to fight everybody.”
“So yeah… we’re working on that, and he’ll fight again soon. Maybe before the end of the summer,” he added.
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