The rivalry between rising UFC star Dricus du Plessis and the undisputed middleweight champion Israel Adesanya keeps on flourishing. Even though the two aren’t slated to fight one another any time soon, they continue to trade heated words.
Izzy is fresh from a KO victory over his archnemesis Alex Pereira at UFC 287. Reclaiming his middleweight gold, the Nigerian-born Kiwi is now looking toward his next possible opponent. Dricus, on the other hand, will lock horns with former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 on July 9.
Dricus du Plessis: “I’m the African fighter. Me and Cameron. WE breathe African air, WE wake up in Africa every day. ” pic.twitter.com/7xWfyfhvem
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) March 1, 2023
The aforementioned rivalry seemingly began this past March when ‘Stillknocks’ launched an outburst toward Adesanya regarding the latter’s African roots. The following month, ‘The Last Stylebender’ gave a scathing response to du Plessis. The said response carried racial slurs along with it, which seemingly angered the fight fans. Despite everything, the two haven’t stopped chattering about each other.
Earlier this month, Adesanya appeared on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast. During a particular segment on the show, the 33-year-old detailed his sparring match with the Dricus du Plessis. In a moment of revelation, Israel shared that he and the South African fighter actually sparred together in Thailand early in their careers.
Israel Adesanya with some harsh words for Dricus Du Plessis.😳
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) April 27, 2023
Speaking on their brief history, Adesanya said, “So you know what’s funny? What’s funny to me … I remember this. We actually sparred.” The middleweight champ continued, “Hey, sparring is sparring. Also, you know what, I’m coming from China. I was doing kickboxing over there, I had no MMA, nothing. I was kickboxing.”
‘The Last Stylebender’ openly admitted that Dricus got the better of him on the mats while sharing that he balanced it out by outstriking the 29-year-old. He added, “I had MMA already, but it wasn’t sharp. It was blunt. My jiu-jitsu was blunt, very blunt,” he added.
“So we’re sparring. I don’t know if we did two rounds or one, it’s so long ago as well. This is 2014 … so long ago, I remember like on the grappling he had me. But on striking, I just messed him up,” Izzy concluded.
However, if we were to ask Dricus about the alleged sparring encounter, he has a different story to tell. Let’s find out what he had to say in a recent interview.
Dricus du Plessis claims Israel Adesanya lied about their sparring encounter
Weeks after Izzy’s claims of getting the better of Dricus du Plessis on the feet, the latter has now come up to rubbish the statements. In a recent interview with The Schmo, the 29-year-old gave his side of the story.
While he didn’t deny Israel’s claims in their entirety, du Plessis did point out a particular statement that he believes is wrong. He started off by agreeing that the two did in fact train in Thailand. “Oh yeah, we trained in Thailand together. I think I was nineteen years old at the time,” Dricus said. “He (Israel) had quite a record in MMA (and) I was 3-0, I think.”
“You know he said I beat him in the grappling exchanges, he’s 100% correct in that. I did manhandle him in the grappling and wrestling exchanges,” Dricus elaborated. “But we did not do a single round of striking together, not one. That was his way of saving himself saying, ‘No but I beat him in the striking.’ We never did striking together, not one round.”
“When we sparred, we grappled and we wrestled. We never did one single round of striking together. Not as far as I know and that’s something you’d remember,” du Plessis concluded.
In the world of MMA, sparring is something that is usually never discussed outside closed doors they happen in. However, the same continues to remain a common subject in the build-ups to several matchups, especially ones with genuine bad blood behind them.
As for ‘Stillknocks,’ he will be entering the cage come July 9 to extend his UFC record to 6-0. His most recent win comes by way of a TKO over Derek Brunson this past March at UFC 285. ‘The Reaper’ has had 5 wins in his last 7 fights, the most recent of which came against Marvin Vettori in September of 2022.
Should Dricus win at UFC 290, he could possibly face Israel next. And given the already heated rivalry between the duo, this matchup is sure to bring fireworks to the Octagon.
