Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya have been on a collision course since du Plessis knocked out Robert Whittaker in a shocking upset last year, a performance du Plessis claims sparked the heated face-off between Saturday's headliners moments later.
UFC middleweight champion du Plessis and Adesanya will headline UFC 305 in Perth, Australia this weekend. It's not technically the first time they'll have shared the Octagon. Their first face-to-face occurred in the cage after du Plessis stopped Whittaker at UFC 290. Then middleweight champion Adesanya marched forward and confronted du Plessis. Adesanya's anger stemmed from his rival's dismissal of UFC's previous African champions. Du Plessis claims Adesanya's heightened emotions were a fight-or-flight response.
"He was very fired up after that faceup," du Plessis told CBS Sports. "The reason he reacted the way he did and behaved like an absolute clown when we faced off in the Octagon after the Whittaker fight was because he watched me fight Whittaker and beat him better than he did.
"It was 100% a fight-or-flight response from him."
Former UFC middleweight champion Whittaker was a sizable favorite heading into the du Plessis fight. The South African slugger shocked fans by overwhelming Whittaker en route to a second-round TKO. It was an impressive performance but whether it trumped Adesanya's wins against Whittaker is disputable.
Du Plessis' showing was certainly more emphatic than Adesanya's competitive decision win against Whittaker in February 2022. But that was Adesanya's second win over the former champ. Adesanya first captured the UFC middleweight title with a career-defining knockout. Adesanya made Whittaker, a heralded champion, look like a fish out of water before stopping him cold. Some argue Adesanya's clean KO and disarming striking is more impressive than du Plessis' whirlwind finish.
Du Plessis didn't clarify which Adesanya-Whittaker fight he was comparing to his performance, but it probably doesn't matter. Du Plessis downplays his attempts to play mind games, yet it's clear he's gotten under Adesanya's skin more than most.
"He made himself look like a fool," du Plessis said. "But he obviously went back, looked at the footage, and told himself, and hopefully the people around him told him, 'You look like a complete jackass. Don't do that again.' He changed it. You can see he's been trained. He's been trained not to lose his cool. But all that goes out the window once fight night comes.
"Anything that's being said right now leading into the fight makes no difference. We're going to get into that Octagon, the door will close and we will go to war. All the talking will be done and it'll be spectacular."
Check out the full interview with Dricus du Plessis below.
