Throwback to July of last year. Dricus du Plessis, the middleweight contender, fought and defeated Robert Whittaker in a massive upset. Post the bout, the then UFC Middleweight champion,  Israel Adesanya faced off with him in the octagon to set up their fight. The sheer animosity between the two titans was palpable. The MMA world was eager to see the two go in the cage.

However, seven weeks out of their fight, the South African challenger suffered a devastating injury and this cost him, and the fans, a much-hyped fight. This unexpected turn of events frustrated Dana White and the UFC resorted to replacing him with Sean Strickland. Now, months later, ahead of his fight against Strickland, ‘Stillknocks,’ reflected on this entire fiasco and gave his take.

Fighter’s interest vs. Company’s interest

From the fighter’s perspective, it is justified to back out of a fight on the grounds of an injury. However, it is equally justified for the promoters to be in a state of frenzy after a match-up falls apart. The South African fighter, comprehends the same, and in an interview with ‘MMAFightingonSBN,’ he stated, “Dana does not like when fighters turn down fights but that is situational.”

He added, “Me and Izzy fought then and that hype was good for business. I understood that point of view.” What’s more, he is not guilty about his pull-out.

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According to him, it was to safeguard his health and there is no two ways about it. Later, he asserted that nobody should point fingers at one another and move on from the situation.

He said, “But for me, it was not possible. It wasn’t my fault. It is nobody’s fault.” It appears that Du Plessis is standing his ground and does not want to shy away from calling it how he sees it.

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He remained unbothered throughout the process, biding his time throughout the middleweight fiasco, sensing an opportunity in this adversity.

Dricus Du Plessis was ready to wait it out

According to Du Plessis, he was not bothered to see Sean Strickland replace him to fight Adesnaya. Instead, he was patient enough to fight the winner, “When they gave Strickland the shot I said great. If Izzy beats him I will fight him after, if he doesn’t I’ll fight Strickland,” said the 30-year-old. However, he admitted that even if he did get a title opportunity, he would not have angst against the company.

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