Israel Adesanya Says South African Champion, Du Plessis Refused To Fight Him

Israel Adesanya has been out of the Octagon since he lost his Middleweight title to Sean Strickland in September 2023. The stunning defeat forced the Nigerian fighter to go on a break from the Octagon.

He recently announced his return to the game earlier this year and wanted to take on Du Plessis as the headlining contest for UFC 300 in April.

Recall that Israel Adesanya wanted to defend his UFC Middleweight title against Du Plessis in September but the South African fighter withdrew from the fight due to fitness issues. That forced Adesanya to switch to Strickland who stunned him by beating him to the title.

Since then, reports have claimed that the UFC president, Dana White, has been anxiously looking forward to a bout between the two African-born fighters.

In January 2024, the South African fighter defeated Strickland to take over the middleweight title and seems unready to return to the Octagon anytime soon due to injuries he sustained from the fight.

This development has left Israel Adesanya without a competitor ahead of the UFC 300, a situation that left the Nigerian fighter boasting about how he used to fight with injuries.

“There are some things that were meant to happen”, Israel Adesanya said when asked about headlining UFC 300 via the Theo Von podcast episode.

He continued, “They summoned me, I’m sure this is out there now, but they summoned me for (UFC) 300 and I was like ‘yep, let’s roll.’

“But their side didn’t want it. They didn’t want it. They just fought (Sean) Strickland so maybe he had a little bit of niggly injuries and stuff but we’ve all got niggles and whatnot.

“I’ve fought injured for the last how many fights, that’s why I took time off just to let my body heal. It has healed and I’m sure there will be more injuries, it just happens through training. Like what we do for work, it’s constantly something.”