Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis learn who they fight next with win at UFC 305
Dana White has provided some clarity on the UFC middleweight picture.
Dricus du Plessis gears up to face Israel Adesanya on Saturday night at UFC 305 in his first defence of the 185lbs title.
2
The winner will have no shortage of challengers with Nassourdine Imavov recently propelling himself to No.4 in the middleweight rankings after a big win over Jared Cannonier.
Meanwhile, Khamzat Chimaev and Robert Whittaker are set to finally square off at UFC 308 in October for a top-three rating with MMA's premier promotion.
However, former champion and current No.1 contender Sean Strickland is next in line to face whoever emerges victorious from the UFC 305 main event this weekend, according to White.
"Sean Strickland right now is the No.1 ranked middleweight in the world and the answer is yes," he told the when asked if Strickland was next in line for a shot at the title.
READ MORE ON MMA
Strickland only recently faced Du Plessis and Adesanya.
The American MMA star beat Adesanya via unanimous decision in September last year to snatch the middleweight crown from the two-time champion.
But he would drop the title in his next fight against Du Plessis via a contentious split decision in January.
Since then, he has scored a points win over Paulo Costa and now finds himself in a very strong position to challenge for UFC gold once again.
Most read in MMA
Du Plessis and Adesanya were originally set to meet in September last year, however, the South African striker was forced out of the fight with a foot injury.
As a result, Strickland received a title shot and pulled off a career-best performance against Adesanya to upset the apple cart.
2
Adensaya and Du Plessis have been on a collision course for some time, having gone head-to-head in a racially charged confrontation at UFC 290 in July 2023.
Du Plessis caused a stir during his rise through the ranks by questioning the African representation of Adesanya, as well as former champions Francis Ngannou and Kamaru Usman.
Adesanya, Usman, and Ngannou were all born in Africa and represent the continent in the UFC, but Du Plessis took issue with the trio training and living abroad.
Throwback to when Roberto Soldic regained the KSW welterweight title with this KO win over Dricus Du Plessis
Du Plessis asked reporters in March: “Did those belts ever go to Africa?
"We wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we’re African born, we’re African raised, we still reside in Africa, we train out of Africa – that’s an African champion, and that’s who I’ll be.”
Responding to Du Plessis' comments, Adesanya told : “I just want him to take accountability for his remarks.
"I’m also glad my friend Abdul Razak [Alhassan] said it before his fight about three weeks ago, saying, ‘I respect Dricus, but he’s a b*tch for what he said’.
"He’s a b**** because Dricus is saying, ‘I trained in Africa. I do this in Africa’, and people like Razak and myself [are out there] who are forced to flee our own country because of a better opportunity.
“He’ll never understand that because he lives behind the f*cking gates of his privileged life in South Africa, and he’s able to do that there.
"So someone like Francis, who had to cross the desert to go overseas to go train – if you know Francis’ story, you can’t call him not a real African champion because he didn’t train in Africa.
"Like, bro – are you f***ing kidding? The guy got sent back out to the desert six, seven times to go die, and he survived.”
Topics