Israel Adesanya has spoken about how he was the first choice over Alex Pereira for the UFC 300 main event. In the lead-up to the official announcement of the historic card, various rumors, including a possible return for the Stylebender on April 13 in Las Vegas, flooded the internet. Even Adesanya’s coach revealed this days before the official confirmation of Pereira vs. Hill for UFC 300.
In a recent appearance on the Theo Von podcast, the former UFC Middleweight Champion shed light on what went down during the negotiations for UFC 300.
UFC wanted to book Israel Adesanya vs Dricus du Plessis for UFC 300
As reported earlier, Dana White and the UFC were looking at Israel Adesanya for the hugely anticipated UFC 300 headliner. However, the match-up did not see the light of the day after Dricus’ camp refused to accept the fight.
“There’s some thing that were meant to happen. They summoned me for 300, and I was like, ‘yeah, let’s roll.’ I was like, ‘f*ck it’.”
“But you know, they just fought Strickland; maybe he had a little bit niggly injuries and stuff. But hey, we have all got niggles and whatnot. I have fought injured for the last, how many fights, and that’s why I took time off just to let my body heal, and it has healed.” Adesanya said.
Israel Adesanya says that the UFC wanted to make Izzy vs Dricus Du Plessis at #UFC300, but Dricus rejected.
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) February 27, 2024
“There’s some things that were meant to happen. They summoned me for 300, and I was like ‘yup let’s roll’. But [Du Plessis] side didn’t want it.”
🎥 YT / Theo Von #UFC… pic.twitter.com/daP6zMvekn
Dricus du Plessis last fought inside the cage back in January against Sean Strickland in a 5-round slugfest that saw him become the UFC Middleweight Champion of the world. Stepping inside the Octagon in less than three months since his last fight was always going to be a massive ask from the UFC, and it’s not surprising to see Du Plessis’ camp rejecting the offer with the title on the line.
More recently, there were reports that Adesanya would face Khamzat Chimaev in Saudi Arabia next. However, Dana White refuted rumors of a possible match-up between the two middleweight contenders. It looks like Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis is the next fight to make, as far as the UFC is concerned.