Dricus Du Plessis won the middleweight title at UFC 297 after defeating Sean Strickland via split decision. Soon after the win, the South African fighter called out Israel Adesanya. Daniel Cormier interviewed Du Plessis in the Octagon after the win, where he called out “The Last Stylebender,” saying, “There was another guy that tried to take away my shine, she lost his shine. Now I have your shine. You didn’t get into the cage tonight, but Israel Adesanya, get your a** back in the UFC so we can settle the score.”
The former two-time champion’s response
Adesanya has now responded to the new Middleweight champion, as he took to Instagram and posted a story writing, “Never stole shine. Never lost mine!!”
The two fighters had a heated face-off in the Octagon following Du Plessis’ knockout victory over Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. A match between them was targeted for UFC 293, but an injury that Du Plessis sustained in his clash with Whittaker ruled him out of a title fight with then-champion Israel Adesanya. Then Sean Strickland was chosen as Adesanya’s opponent in place of Du Plessis, who shocked everyone by defeating “The Last Stylebender” at UFC 293.
The Bantamweight champ is taking inspiration by Adesanya
The main event of UFC 299 on March 9 will see Sean O’Malley face Marlon Vera in Miami. The fighters will battle for the bantamweight title, and this will be their highly anticipated UFC rematch of the UFC 252 clash that took place in 2020. Vera defeated “Sugar” in their first encounter by TKO. Just as Israel Adesanya got revenge on Alex Pereira in their MMA rematch at UFC 287 in Miami, O’Malley is hoping to repeat the former champion’s performance.
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“Sugar” recently previewed his upcoming title match during an interview and said, “Israel Adesanya knocked out Alex Pereira in their rematch in Miami. You know what I mean. So I’m just gonna have to go out there and do the same thing. Knock “Chito” out in the rematch and rewrite history. It will be beautiful.”
