Dricus du Plessis Says UFC 305 Fight Is Not ‘Personal’ Despite Israel Adesanya Signaling Murderous Intent
Dricus Du Plessis surprises the MMA world by stating his fight with Israel Adesanya is not "personal," emphasizing a professional approach to their upcoming bout.
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Dricus Du Plessis has hinted at a possible downscaling of the raging fire going on between him and Israel Adesanya. With the two athletes scheduled to face off this Saturday, the stakes have never been higher. Fighting for the UFC middleweight title, the rivalry between Adesanya and Du Plessis has generated significant heat. Surprisingly, while both fighters have been trading verbal shots at each other, Du Plessis recently made a contrasting comment.
Speaking at a recent press conference, Du Plessis mentioned that the upcoming fight is not personal for him. The challenger elaborated, "It's definitely personal for him because he took a lot of offense at what I said for speaking the truth, and he didn't like it... It was never personal because there's nothing to be personal about for me. I stated facts, I said what I said, 100% fact."
Such a statement is surprising, especially given that the rivalry between the two has been quite intense. Du Plessis irked Adesanya significantly by claiming to be the real African champion. In fact, Dricus Du Plessis resides in South Africa, while Israel Adesanya is based in New Zealand. This was the primary reason for Du Plessis's statement. However, Adesanya, being born in Nigeria, took it as an insult and called out 'Stillknocks' for his alleged 'colonial mindset.'
Israel Adesanya also mentioned that by claiming to be the real African, the middleweight challenger has insulted the likes of Francis Ngannou and Kamaru Usman, who were both UFC champions. 'Izzy' also expressed his will to 'kill' Du Plessis when they meet inside the octagon on Saturday. Meanwhile, the South African will have his work cut out for him. Apart from handling the pressure of challenging for the middleweight title, Du Plessis will also have the responsibility of elevating his country's name on the UFC's map.
According to a recent announcement from Dana White, if Dricus Du Plessis manages to retain his title, the UFC will be making plans to host an event in South Africa for the first time. However, that dream might turn out to be a little bit too much for Du Plessis to fulfill as experts such as Alexander Volkanovski have given the nod to Adesanya. The former featherweight king stated that Du Plessis’ style of fighting is ‘awkward’ and thus, Adesanya will be all prepared to face the challenge. Thus, with shots being fired continuously, the upcoming UFC 305 main event is expected to be a banger.
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