Dricus du Plessis of South Africa and Israel Adesanya, the middleweight champion, had some heated exchanges at UFC 290. With a second-round knockout, du Plessis made a statement over former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at the event.
The high-profile victory placed ‘Stillknocks’ on the radar of defending champion Israel Adesanya. The champion wasted no time and rushed the octagon during du Plessis’ post-fight interview for a face-off, spitting odd words loaded with the N-word and other cringe-worthy phrases.
‘Stillknocks’ fans, like many others, were irritated by Adesanya’s out-of-character behavior. During the post-fight press conference, the South African stated that ‘The Last Stylebender’ felt “insignificant” in his presence.
As per reports from Fox News, Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa nicknamed Israel Adesanya a “clown” after Israel Adesanya rushing into the cage and raving about him being a “n****r” – all of which might pave the way for a blockbuster UFC 293 headliner in Sydney on September 10.
Dricus Du Plessis trashes “clown” Israel Adesanya for “behaving like a child” during their #UFC290 in-cage faceoff.
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) July 9, 2023
Full interview: https://t.co/5ZbZ83or3N pic.twitter.com/Zy8LVLOnVi
Furthermore, the 29-year-old blasted the Nigerian-born Kiwi for behaving inappropriately for a champion. “That’s not how a man behaves. He’s behaving like a child. Conduct yourself like a champion. These people looking up to you, and you’re behaving like that.” Said Dricus.
Dricus du Plessis underwent nose surgery recently and still performed exceptionally
Dricus du Plessis recently underwent major nose surgery to help his breathing. With a huge fight on the horizon, everyone was wondering if the operation is an ‘enhancement’ of some kind. Du Plessis recently spoke at a news conference on the situation.
Dricus told in his statement, that “nothing would change about the fight everything that will change would be how he will look when he will fight.”
“You definitely start hyperventilating when you’re breathing heavily. And during my rest rounds I can really… that… that’s where the big difference comes in and my recovery, my sleep – everything has been better.” He added.
In the post-fight press conference, a reporter asked about how different did it look in the match with Whittaker. “I felt incredible out there tonight. I didn’t feel a little bit tired and the pace wasn’t low it was a great base and I could see my opponents laying down when I was just starting to get going.” Drisus stated.
“I could see everything in his eyes and in his body language that I needed to and I felt invincible in there, I felt great and it made all the difference.” He added.
Dricus made a total of 104 strikes out of which 62 were significant whereas Robert Whittaker made only 70 strikes with only 31 of them being significant. Dricus easily won the match in the second round via TKO.