A couple weeks before fighting in UFC 293, flyweight fighter Kai Kara-France decided to withdraw from his bout. Kai trains alongside UFC champions under head coach Eugene Bareman and was supposed to fight Manel Kape. The bout would have determined the next contender for the flyweight title and several were eagerly anticipating the showdown. While Kai has Bareman’s support, the story was not quite the same for Dricus du Plessis.
Kara-France was coming off a controversial decision loss to Amir Albazi and wanted to redeem himself. His opponent on the other hand is riding a three-fight winning streak and gunning for the flyweight title. Sadly, the 30-year-old sustained a huge concussion during one of his training sessions before the fight.
This was a huge setback for Kai but he wanted to prioritize his health to come back stronger. His coach Eugene Bareman also agreed with the decision despite once stating that fighters should push forward instead of calling off the fights.
Due to the change in opponents, Kape ended up insulting Kara-France and team City Kickboxing during his recent press conference. “You run away from me, your coach say you guys should eat through the injury, so better you come with your injury. This is what your coach say you guys have to have the mentality of a champion, what happened to you?” said Kape.
He then turned to Israel Adesanya who tried to defend his teammate. “Sit the f*ck down shut your mouth your f*cking porn cartoon addiction.” added Kape.
Bareman was extremely supportive of Kara-France’s decision when he decided to pull out of the fight. However, his opinions were not the same when Dricus du Plessis pulled out of his fight due to an injury.
Eugene Bareman bashed Dricus du Plessis for pulling out of his fight due to injury
Before being scheduled to fight Sean Strickland at UFC 293, champion Israel Adesanya was supposed to take on Dricus du Plessis. Both fighters already had a huge ongoing dispute that needs to be settled inside the octagon. However, du Plessis had to pull out of his fight due to an undisclosed injury.
While it is common for fighters to pull out due to injuries, Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman believes Dricus fumbled his title shot. Eugene believes, that du Plessis should have stepped up to the challenge and not taken the title shot for granted. Now, the South African fighter will have to prove his worth again as Israel fights Sean Strickland next.
“He didn’t want to push through his injury. It doesn’t matter to me. That’s something to do with him and his team, and he has to go back and fight someone else,” said Bareman. The statement from Eugene may sound hypocritical given that he supported Kai Kara-France pulling out of his fight.
The City Kickboxing head coach was fine with Kai’s decision to forfeit a very important fight due to injury. Yet, when it comes to an opponent fighter like Dricus, Eugene had changed his opinion.
Given that Dricus du Plessis is the No.1 fighter in middleweight, his claim to the title shot next seems strong. That said, du Plessis may have to wait until next year to fight for a title against the middleweight champion.
