Lately, the UFC’s Middleweight division has been a hot topic of discussion for fans. After the current UFC Middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya reclaimed his title from his archrival, Alex Pereira, an entirely new debate began heating things up between the champ and the known UFC Middleweight, Dricus Du Plessis. Things got really bad between ‘the South African’ and ‘the Nigerian-New Zealander’ after the former’s words about UFC’s “real African champion”.
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The famed former UFC Welterweight champ, Kamaru Usman, also got drawn into the conversation due to his African roots. However, he mostly maintained a quiet stance throughout the feud. Most UFC fans know that this feud was also the prime factor behind the fixing of the UFC 290 virtual title shot eliminator between the famed former UFC Middleweight king, Robert Whittaker, and ‘Izzy’s’ current foe, Du Plessis. But, Du Plessis recently revealed that he never viewed this feud as something that could grant him a title shot eliminator.
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Dricus Du Plessis was initially surprised but then laughed at the reactions to his comments
Appearing in a recent interview with ‘BT Sport’, Du Plessis also revealed currently he was only focused on his next bout against Whittaker. But he also talked about how his words eventually “sparked a reaction” from both ‘Izzy’ and Usman.
The former UFC Welterweight king, Usman also was from Nigeria although he settled in the US a long while back. He replied to Du Plessis only once at a UFC 286 press conference. But ‘The Last Stylebender’ had a more vicious reply to ‘The South African’.
Du Plessis started off with a justification of his own words stating, “There is a record book, and if you go on the record books, I will be the first champion to reside in Africa which is a fact and that is what I stated”.
In a later part of his interview, Du Plessis addressed his rival, ‘Izzy’ and stated, “Send me your postal code and I’ll send you mine and we’ll see. Mine is in South Africa” for the same purpose.
He further revealed that he was startled by how people accused him, saying, “How can you say you’re more African?”. But Du Plessis still stood by the words he had said previously. The ’29-year-old’ said, “I never said the word ‘more African’, not even once”.
Showcasing his nonchalant side, he also said, “If they’re gonna be pissed off about that, I don’t care. Coz, I just stated the facts”. All in all, Du Plessis summed up his entire thought about the issue stating, “I stated a fact and I don’t know, it pulled a nerve or something”.
Dricus Du Plessis wanted to focus on his Robert Whittaker bout instead of Israel Adesanya
Du Plessis wasn’t able to stop from smirking a few times while he talked about his “real African” feud against the UFC Middleweight champ, ‘Izzy’, and Usman. Also, later on in the interview, Du Plessis also revealed how he still didn’t see this feud seriously. He said, “You know I didn’t take it too seriously and I still don’t”. Instead, he wanted to focus on his next bout against Whittaker.
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‘Bobby Knuckles’ is undoubtedly one of the most formidable forces in the UFC Middleweight division. Hence, it may be said that Du Plessis will probably have to go through some extremely competitive minutes at UFC 290 before he can advance toward a title shot against Israel Adesanya.
Which way do you see this UFC 290 affair between Whittaker and Du Plessis going? Will we finally get to see a real African showdown after this?
