Israel
Adesanya isn’t too happy with reigning champion Dricus Du
Plessis’ refusal to compete at UFC
300.
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The former middleweight champion, who lost his belt to Sean
Strickland at
UFC 293, was eagerly hoping to return to action against
reigning champion du Plessis at the marquee event that goes down on
Saturday. In fact, “The Last Stylebender” had been training for
around three to four weeks leading up to the revelation that a
fight with Du Plessis at UFC 300 was off the table.
“I was heartbroken, because I thought it was us and I was like,
‘Oh! they’ll announce, they’ll announce it and Tim [Adesanya’s
manager] was holding out because he and Hunter, shoutout Hunter and
Dana, they were like going back-and-forth and then. I’m glad Tim
called me before they announced it, like, I think three minutes
before they announced Jamahal [Hill] versus Alex [Pereira] because
if I found out on Instagram, I would have been like, Dana would
have got calls, because I was ready, I was training all that,” said
Adesanya on „The MMA Hour“. “I thought it was done. I was
training in Switzerland for probably about four weeks, three weeks
I was on. But yeah, for me, I just didn’t want to be scrolling and
find out but Tim called and was like, ‚Look, it’s not you. I was
just like, the pay-per-view just finished, and he called me and I’m
just like, ‘What? No!’ Because I was expecting, like a trailer to
be dropped announcing it and then I found out and I was like ‘Oh
man!’ So, I was like whatever, it is what it is.”
When asked about how he felt about the reasoning behind Du Plessis’
refusal to compete at UFC 300 due to an injury, Adesanya
responded.
“They’re not built like us. It’s different… Okay, So, I wasn’t
even fully healed. I’m taking time off. And when the opportunity
presented itself, I was like, ‘F—k it’s history. This is
monumental, UFC 300. F—ing let’s do it.‘ But again, they’re not
built like us. Myself, Alexander
Volkanovski, Kamaru
Usman. When we were champions, just f—k it, just fight. F-k the
belt. I got belts at home. Even fans, whenever they see me now,
they go, ‘Oh man I hope you get that belt back.’ B—h, they’re at
the house, I’m a two-time middleweight champion. Soon to be three.
It’s at the house. It’s not about the belt. I’m coming for the
heads. Right now, it’s about fighting while you can. But he’s
young, he’s done what he’s done, got this far, become champion so
good on him. But yeah, it is what it is, you wanna hold on to that
belt and be cozy. That’s your prerogative. But yeah, when we were
doing it, f—k the belt. It’s about fighting the best and that’s
it.”
Du Plessis has expressed interest in facing Adesanya at UFC 305
in Perth, Australia on Aug. 17.