Imago
Image Courtesy: Imago
Imago
Image Courtesy: Imago
Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis do not like each other at all, despite both being from Africa. Or rather because of it. Africa and who the ‘real’ African UFC champion is the whole reason behind their enmity. It all started last year after Du Plessis (before becoming champ) claimed that since none of the other UFC champions lived and trained in Africa (unlike him), he would bring the UFC belt to Africa for the first time. This incensed Israel Adesanya, who was then champ and originally hails from Nigeria, and saw it as ‘DDP’ questioning his African heritage. But despite the backlash ‘DDP’ received, he thinks he has nothing to apologize for.
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‘DDP’ and Adesanya will resolve their beef in a much-awaited clash on UFC 305 this Saturday down under in Perth, Australia. Ahead of their grudge match, Du Plessis was asked if he regretted or wanted to change his ‘real African champion’ comments. To which the South African refused and reiterated why he said what he said.
“If I could take time back I would say exactly the same because I stated the facts, yeah? I 100% stated the facts that I am the African fighter that resides in Africa and I wanted to be the first champion that is African born, African raised, African trained and still residing in Africa,” he said while speaking to Chisanga Malata on the latter’s YouTube channel.
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‘DDP’ was also quick to point out that he was not ‘questioning’ any of the other champions’ African heritage, but a simple statement of facts. That is, Du Plessis still lives and trains in Africa, which none of the other African champions, including Israel Adesanya, do.
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“And taking that back would make no sense because that’s facts, not taking away any of their [the other African champions’] heritage. I’m not saying they are not African, not at all but they don’t reside in Africa and that’s facts. They didn’t train in Africa, they didn’t get their expertise of fighting in Africa, and that’s where I get mine. My coaches, my teammates, everybody is African,” he added. But Israel Adesanya, predictably, has a completely different view on this.
Israel Adesanya rubbished ‘privileged’ ‘DDP’
Israel Adesanya, too, has not kept quiet, especially since this is an issue that he feels so strongly about. Just a few days ago, the Kiwi-Nigerian claimed that Du Plessis was a privileged South African brat, who didn’t have to ‘flee’ his homeland like Izzy claims to have done. “Dricus is a b**** for what he’s saying… People like… myself who were forced to flee our own country because of a better opportunity, [Du Plessis] will never understand that because he lives behind the f****** gates of his privileged life in South Africa,” ‘Izzy’ said.
Fans were quick to point out that Adesanya grew up in relative luxury and even had servants growing up. His parents sent him to New Zealand when he was just ten because they wanted to (and more importantly could afford to) send their son abroad for a good education. This is why ‘Izzy’s claims about ‘fleeing’ Nigeria and Du Plessis being more privileged than him have not gone down well with many.
Either way, one thing is clear- Du Plessis and Adesanya have a very personal enmity leading up to their UFC 305 clash. And those are the exact ingredients that are needed for a riveting fight. What are your thoughts on Du Plessis and Adesanya’s back-and-forth on the ‘real African’ controversy? Let us know in the comments below.
Written by
Edited by
Sakshi Jain