UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis has expressed his desire to face former two time champion Israel Adesayna, and sees UFC 300 as the perfect opportunity to face him.
Du Plessis was crowned the new world champion following a hard fought 5 round bout against Sean Strickland at the main event of UFC 297. After struggling with the jab in the first round, Du Plessis worked his way into the contest and took a split decision victory to be crowned the new champ.
Speaking to the media post fight, Du Plessis outlined his intentions moving forward. After jokingly addressing the damage he received during the 25 minute contest, the 30-year-old revealed that although he does not want to put a time frame on things - UFC 300 would be an incredible card to feature on. He said:
“A little bit of damage? Do you remember how handsome I was before this fight? I look like a cauliflower now. I am pretty banged up right now, I am up for another round if they want to go right now. I don’t want to put a timeline on it but UFC 300 sounds amazing.
“It’s nothing personal. It’s not personal at all, that’s just the fight the fans want to see. I want to fight the best competition. There’s a lot of guys who are going to be fighting but the fans want to see Israel Adesayna vs Dricus Du Plessis. There’s a lot of hype that was already built on it. If there’s some way the fans start backtracking and saying, listen, the fans don’t really want to see Adesayna vs Du Plessis, we don’t do that fight. That’s fine to me, I don’t care who it is. That’s just a fight off the top of my head that I think the people want to see and will get a lot of people excited.”
During his in-cage interview, ‘Stillknocks’ was shown footage of fans in his native South Africa celebrating his victory. Discussing the footage, Du Plessis explained just what it meant to have the support he does and he feels now is the perfect time to bring the UFC to the continent of Africa.
“That was absolutely incredible. There is one thing about South Africa, I think if the UFC go there the whole world is going to see, you have never felt a vibe when it comes to sport like South Africa.”
Now with one piece of UFC gold around his waist, Du Plessis has his sights set on a second, but is happy to wait until the opportunity presents itself and will defend his belt against worthy contenders in the meantime.
“Do I want double champ status? Absolutely. But I am willing to earn that if there’s contenders that make sense. I don't want to fight contenders that doesn't make sense. Fighting Israel Adesayna makes sense. Fighting guys who deserve the title shot makes sense but I don’t want to just fight somebody because,I don’t want to beat the Israel Adesayna that fought Sean Strickland. Yeah, Strickland won that fight but they should have never fought, in my opinion.”
UFC CEO Dana White teased that the UFC 300 main event will be announced soon but remained tight lipped as to who will feature.
