Dricus Du Plessis’ manager was told by Team Adesanya that ‘Izzy would be ready’ for UFC 300
Despite fighting to a razor-thin and somewhat controversial split decision at UFC 297, Sean Strickland and new middleweight world champion Dricus Du Plessis will move on from one another.
UFC CEO Dana White appears to be cooking up something a little more exciting for Du Plessis’ first title defense despite the fact that even he admitted to scoring the highly-debated headliner in favor of Strickland. Though nothing is official, fight fans assume that the promotion will be targeting a clash between DDP and former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya.
It certainly makes sense given their heated history, including a racially charged face-off in July following Du Plessis’ second-round knockout of Robert Whittaker. But whether or not it happens at the promotion’s next big landmark event, UFC 300, is up in the air as rumors continue to circulate about Adesany’s health.
DDP’s manager Daniel Rubenstein attempted to clear the air on what has been going on behind the scenes, revealing that ahead of Du Plessis’ win over Strickland in Toronto, he was informed that Adesanya would be ready to fight at UFC 300. That in turn prompted DPP to call out ‘The Last Stylebender’ in his post-fight interview.
“Preference wise, I think it’s Adesanya. I think there’s heat between the two of them, they’ve already done all the lead up to build the fight. I think [Adesanya] is who we’d all prefer as a team,” Rubenstein said on the Anik & Florian podcast. “Very honestly, he wasn’t gonna call out Izzy if Izzy wasn’t gonna be ready.
“I hit up Izzy’s manager like, ‘Hey is Izzy gonna be ready? We’re gonna call out Izzy if he’s gonna be ready. But if he’s not gonna be ready for [UFC 300] I don’t want Dricus barking up the wrong tree. We’ll call out Alex Pereira, he’s right there in the Octagon.’ They told me Izzy would be ready, so that was the callout he made” (h/t MMA Mania).
UFC 300 is still without a main event
The UFC 300 headliner is still a mystery with Dana White recently revealing that they are circling a few different options for the most anticipated main event announcement of the year.
10 fights in total have been announced for the milestone event on April 13, but only one title tilt (BMF excluded) has made its way onto the card. That would be a strawweight championship showdown between Chinese superstars Zhang Weili and Yan Xianan.
The full UFC 300 lineup thus far is as follows:
- Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan
- Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway
- Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar
- Jim Miller vs. Bobby Green
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic
- Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage
- Cody Garbrandt vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
- Kayla Harrison vs. Holly Holm
- Sodiq Yusuff vs. Diego Lopes
