Dricus Du Plessis: Israel Adesanya Acted Like a ‘Clown’ During Octagon Faceoff

About the only thing that generated more buzz than Dricus Du Plessis’ upset of Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 was his confrontation with Israel Adesanya in the Octagon after that victory.

The reigning middleweight champion entered the cage to face off with Du Plessis on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to set the stage for the promotion’s next middleweight championship fight. What ensued was a tense scene that included Adesanya using the N-word multiple times during the fighters’ back-and-forth trash talk on the microphone. According to Du Plessis, Adesanya could have handled the situation better.

“You saw it tonight, I’m prepared. I’m prepared for everything he says,” Du Plessis said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“He’s behaving like a clown in there. That’s not how a champion behaves. That’s not at all how a man behaves. He’s behaving like a child. Conduct yourself like a champion. There’s people looking up to you, and you’re behaving like that. If that sells tickets, good for him. I’ll sell tickets in my way. I’m a gentleman, I’m a man, and I’ll behave like a man.”

Though nothing is official, Du Plessis is expected to face Adesanya at UFC 293 in Sydney on Sept. 9. Based on his second-round technical knockout of Whittaker, the South Africa native likes his chances against “The Last Stylebender.”

“I’ll knock him out just like I did tonight,” Du Plessis said. “We saw his fight with Alex [Pereira]. If I get him to the floor, it is not even a fight. It’s not even a fight. If I just get my hands on him, it’s not even a fight. I will manhandle him. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again.

“You are as good as your last performance. What did his last performance look like against Whittaker? Yeah, you beat him. It was a close fight. What did my last performance against Whittaker look like? So right now, that’s how I plan on beating him. The same way I beat Whittaker tonight, by implementing the game plan and sticking to my style and doing what we do best, listening to my coaches, listening to the great teammates I have at CIT. It’s a small gym in South Africa coming up with game plans with this awkward style. This style that looks completely wrong to so many people. I’m the No. 1 contender in the world right now. So it’s time to put some respect on that.”