20 July 2023 , 13:11
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UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has admitted he "lost his s***" during an intense face-off with top contender Dricus Du Plessis earlier this month.
The Nigerian fighter has taken offence at Du Plessis' assertion that he is a "true African" fighter due to staying in his home country of South Africa to train. Adesanya is based in New Zealand at City Kickboxing, while other African champions Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou worked at gyms in America in the build-up to their world title wins.
And when Du Plessis pulled off the upset at UFC 290 on International Fight Week, Adesanya made his way into the octagon to confront his rival. The pair went back-and-forth during an heated moment, with the champion repeatedly using the 'n-word' in an expletive-laden rant.
“He worked hard,” Adesanya explained in a video 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*** yeah – positive affirmations, like ‘Let’s go.’ But yeah, when [their face-to-face] happened, I just lost my s***.”
Adesanya began shouting at Du Plessis during the face-off as he said: “This is my African brother right here, let’s go n*****, what’s up b****? Let’s go n*****, here n*****. What's up n*****? Yeah, my African brother." Du Plessis replied to his rival's taunts: "I’m African but I ain’t no brother of yours, son."
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 08: UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya faces off against Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa during the UFC 290 event at T-Mobile Arena on July 08, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)What did you make of Israel Adesanya's controversial rant? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
The South African controversially claimed he was on the way to becoming the "first real African champion". He believes that the belts were first taken to New Zealand, Florida and Las Vegas when Adesanya, Usman and Ngannou won them, with his first stop being South Africa.
"I want to be the first real African champ," Du Plessis told press before a previous fight. "Born, bred, trained in Africa." In another clip he asks reporters about the three previous African champion's title wins, saying "Did those belts ever actually go to Africa? As far as I'm aware they came to America and New Zealand.
"I'm going to take the belt to Africa, I'm the African fighter in the UFC. Myself and Cameron [Saaiman, his teammate], we breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day, we train in Africa, we're African born and raised and still reside in Africa and train out of Africa, that's an African champion and that's who I'll be."