Israel Adesanya defends racially-Charged encounter with Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290: ‘I just lost my sh*t’
Following his racially-charged outburst aimed at incoming foe, Dricus du Plessis following his UFC 290 knockout win over former champion and common-foe, Robert Whittaker, defending middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya has defended his tirade aimed at the South African following criticizm he’s received.
Adesanya, the current and two-time undisputed middleweight champion, is expected to make his return to the Octagon at UFC 293 in September, taking on recent big-winner and current number one ranked middleweight contender, du Plessis in a heated championship grudge match in Sydney, Australia.
Most recently headlining UFC 287 back in April of this year against former champion and arch-rival, Alex Pereira, Adesanya rebounded to the winner’s enclosure with a second round KO win over the Brazilian phenom.
Israel Adesanya reflects on his tirade against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290
And sharing the Octagon with du Plessis during a post-fight segment at UFC 290 during International Fight Week earlier this month, Israel Adesanya, who called the Pretoria native the ‘n-word’ on multiple occasions during their face-off, has reflected on his heated face-to-face with the former.
“He (Dricus du Plessis) worked hard,” Israel Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “I manifest for myself and I make sure I do the work to get that manifestation right. It’s not just sit there and ‘Kumbaya’. What’s going to happen? I do the work. Trust me. There’s levels… Even at the prep point, I was giving him energy. Like, f*ck yeah – positive affirmations, like ‘Let’s go.’ But yeah, when (the face-off) happened, I just lost my sh*t.”
Now in the midst of an impressive promotional-perfect six-fight winning run since transitioning to the UFC back in 2020, du Plessis has racked up wins over Markus Perez, Trevin Giles, Brad Tavares, former title challenger, Darren Till, Derek Brunson, and his aforenoted second round TKO win over former champion, Whittaker.
