Dricus Du
Plessis vows to put the middleweight division on notice with
his upcoming title defense against Israel
Adesanya.
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“Stillknocks” will look to defend his strap for the first time
against Adesanya in the main event at UFC 305
on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia. Adesanya has always been the
benchmark of success for Du Plessis, who plans to put himself in
middleweight GOAT conversations by besting “The Last
Stylebender.”
“I’ve always looked at Israel
Adesanya as the benchmark,” Du Plessis told Fox West Texas.
“Now Izzy became a champion a long time ago and I’ve looked at him
and always knew, ‘This is where I need to be if I ever wanna be the
best in the world.’… He is one of the greatest to ever do it. And
this fight for me is gonna put me in that position. This is where I
take over as one of the greatest to ever do it.”
In addition to beating Adesanya, Du Plessis vows to do it in a
manner which will have other middleweight contenders doubting
themselves. The 30-year-old believes a lot of top middleweight
contenders will shy away from an immediate title fight after his
performance against Adesanya.
“I think I’m gonna have a lot less callouts, I can tell you that,”
he said. “I think a lot less people are gonna be calling me out. I
think a lot less Top 10, Top 5 guys are gonna go, ‘Nah, I wanna
fight Dricus.’… I think there’s gonna be a lot of people saying,
‘No, maybe I need a couple of more before I go at the champ.’ I
think that’s what’s gonna happen. I see myself planting doubt in
every single contender in the middleweight division… They’re gonna
realize this sport has changed forever and if you don’t change with
it very quickly, if you don’t adapt very quickly, you’ll never be
there. And I think it’s gonna change the game forever.”
Du Plessis won the title with a controversial split-decision win
over Sean
Strickland at UFC 297 in January. While “Stillknocks”
eventually plans on moving up to light heavyweight, he is in no
rush to do so. Du Plessis plans on defending his middleweight title
until there are no contenders left.
“I’m not rushing it,” he said. “I’m a fan of defending your title
at least three times and then going, ‘OK [move up].’ If there’s no
contenders that really go: ‘Wow’… I’m looking to defend my belt now
and then on to the next defense if there’s gonna be something that
makes sense. And I’m definitely in no rush to go up to light
heavyweight. I just see it as a goal in the future for me, but it’s
definitely not something I’m rushing towards. I’m focused solely on
defending this middleweight title as many times as it takes so it
only makes sense to go up a weight division.”