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Among the several story lines on offer at UFC 297 was the potential setting of the stage for what should have been one of the biggest fights of 2023. Dricus du Plessis’ build up to a fight with Israel Adesanya was at least a year in the making.
As far back as 2022 (if not earlier) du Plessis was making public comments, needling Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, and Francis Ngannou over their claim to the title of ‘African’ UFC champion. As far as ‘Stillknocks’ was concerned, anyone that didn’t still live and train on the continent didn’t have shouldn’t be carrying the moniker. A stance that clearly got to Adesanya as du Plessis inched closer to contention.
Israel Adesanya ready for UFC comeback?
Unfortunately, despite months of (tortuously online) bickering and buildup, the UFC booked Adesanya for a title defense just two months after du Plessis’ most recent fight. The 30-year-old couldn’t make the date, and Sean Strickland took his place against the ‘Last Stylebender.’ The rest, as they say, was history.
With du Plessis picking up the win this past Saturday, and grabbing gold in the process, however, it seems that Adesanya fight is right back on the table. Despite coming off a loss and several months of hiatus, Adesanya was just about the first name on the champion’s lips.
“I saw Alex Pereira get into the cage and I thought, ‘Well, okay. Here we go again. Let’s do the face off right now. Let’s see if I can recover in time.’ But it looks like that’s not happening. But, right now I have to tell you, man, I’m really enjoying this.
“I would love—there was another guy who tried to take my shine. He lost his shine, now I have your shine. You didn’t get into the cage tonight, but Israel Adesanya, get your a— back in the UFC so we can settle this score.”
Adesanya responds
Just a few weeks ago Israel Adesanya made it clear that his return to the Octagon was imminent. Despite telling fans that he likely wouldn’t fight again until 2027, the Nigerian-born New Zealander teased a much sooner return to action in an interview with iFL TV.
“…Life has forced me to take some time off and I will. But you will see me soon. I said 2027 and the r—ds out there actually thought I meant that. But you’ll see.”
With du Plessis now calling him out direct, the City Kickboxing star took to his own YouTube channel to drop his thoughts on UFC 297, Strickland losing his title, and a potential title fight in his future. From the sound of things, we’ll almost certainly be seeing these two in the cage against one another this year.
“The main event, it was nice to watch,” Adesanya said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I thought Dricus, I thought he would use his wrestling more in the middle of the rounds, but he did use it at the end, which was smart of him to steal the rounds. I thought maybe, my ‘guesstimate’ on watching this, [rounds] 3, 4, 5 he took. Now he is the fourth African champion in UFC history, so congrats to you my African brother Dricus du Plessis.”
“Legit I’m happy for him, I actually like his story,” Adesanya added. “But he still did what he did and I’m still going to test that ass.”
What about Sean Strickland and a potential rematch? Despite scoring the fight for the Xtreme Couture talent himself, UFC president Dana White has already sounded ready to move on.
“Eventually, these two are going to end up fighting again, I’m sure,” White told reporters after the event. “But we’re not thinking about an immediate rematch right now.”