Dricus du Plessis aiming for May UFC return, wants Israel Adesanya ‘on home soil’

PRETORIA, South Africa — UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis told ESPN he expects to be ready to fight by mid-2024 and reiterated his desire to face New Zealander of Nigerian origin Israel Adesanya in South Africa.

“Stillknocks” Du Plessis injured both legs during his January fight against Sean Strickland at UFC 297, which he won by split decision to capture the title, a first UFC championship for a South African fighter .

“I'll be ready for June [or] July — I guess even [in] May I'll be fit and ready to go. I just want to be able to have a real camp…I'd like to fight three times a year. That would be ideal, so June [or] July would be ideal,” Du Plessis told ESPN at his CIT gym in Pretoria.

Although he previously stated on compatriot Cameron Saaiman's “MSP Show” that Adesanya could not dictate his timetable to return to the Octagon, and thus put his title on the line, he still considers the Lagos-born fighter as his dream opponent.

“Absolutely,” du Plessis told ESPN when asked if a title fight with Adesanya in Cape Town was his dream faceoff.

“Fighting Izzy at home would be ideal. It would check a lot of boxes. He's one of the best to ever make it in the middleweight division.

“Of course, bringing the UFC to Africa would be awesome. That in itself would be a win for MMA and for Africa. Of course, South Africa being my home country, it would be amazing to fight him at Me.”

Although he praised Adesanya's skills inside the Octagon, du Plessis was less complimentary of his personality outside of it. The two have been feuding ever since Du Plessis claimed he and Saaiman were trying to become the true African UFC champions, alluding to the fact that Adesanya grew up in New Zealand.

“Have these belts ever gone to Africa? As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand. I'm going to take a belt to Africa,” he said at a dedicated media day to the titles won by Francis Ngannou, Kamaru Usman. and Adesanya.

“I'm the African UFC fighter. Cameron and I; we breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we were born in Africa, we grew up in Africa . We still reside in Africa. , we train outside of Africa. He's a champion of Africa, and that's what I will be.”

Adesanya, who presented his belt to Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State in 2019, responded to Du Plessis by threatening to “drag his carcass across South Africa”.

Du Plessis stands by his comments a year later, telling ESPN: “It wasn't a stunt. They were facts. I stated facts.”

Asked if he had hoped to catch Adesanya's attention with his comments, he replied: “Not at all. I just mentioned that I wanted to make history and I did .

“I wanted to make history as the first champion born, trained and resident in Africa and I did that. That's exactly what I wanted to accomplish: to say I wanted to make history, and I I wrote history.”

On his differences with Adesanya, he added: “I'd have a beer with anyone just for fun, but I guess we have different views on what's right and what's wrong.

“It's pretty obvious that we're not the same people. We have different values ​​in terms of what's wrong and what's right and the message we want to convey about how we want people to see sports and how we want people to view others. There's a big difference between what I want people to take away and what he wants people to take away.”

When asked what specifically he wanted people to take away from watching it, Du Plessis replied: “It's an incredible sport and this sport in general is incredible – whether it's fighting, cricket, rugby, football – it doesn't really matter… It's amazing.

“Treat people with respect; people treat you with respect. If you don't, then I'm not treating you with respect and that's okay too, but you just have to own your actions at the end of the day.

“Your work ethic, that's what I want people to remember. Your work ethic will always be on display at the end of the day.”

On the line he draws between entertaining through unfiltered speech and behavior unbecoming of a UFC champion – a line he previously accused Adesanya of crossing during their showdown at UFC 290 – du Plessis said: “It depends from person to person.

“The way I see what's good for the sport is this: I'm not an angel – I'll tell you that – but when it comes to my presence on television, you won't see me swearing in the interviews.

“I swear – make no mistake – but just because if I'm at someone's house and they ask me not to swear at their house, then I don't do it because it's disrespectful. is his place, it's his If you're at my place and I swear to you that you don't like it, you can leave.

“Being that I'm on the international stage – the whole of South Africa and the whole world is watching me – I'm in everyone's house and that's purely how I feel, so if their rules regarding the swearing is the same, there is no swearing in their house, I have to take that into consideration.

“No one says, 'You have to swear in my house,' but there are people who don't like it when you swear in their house. That's just one example.

“I feel responsible. I have respect for these households to always behave on camera, because there are children watching, there are teenagers watching and you set the example at the end of the day.

“I'm human, so of course I'm going to make mistakes, but I always keep that in mind: I'm an example. People look up to me.”