Israel Adesanya of Nigeria is seen on stage during the UFC305 press conference at RAC Arena in Perth on Friday. Picture: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
It appears as though Dricus du Plessis won the pre-fight battle as he goes into the most important match of his life against Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya in the early hours of Sunday morning in Perth (SA time).
Du Plessis is preparing to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title at the RAC Arena at UFC305.
And in Friday’s UFC press conference, the South African clearly got under the skin of his Nigerian opponent.
African heritage has been at the heart of the feud between the two men.
Du Plessis, who lives and trains in South Africa, views himself as the first real UFC champion from the continent, while Adesanya has been irked by those sentiments because he’s Nigerian but moved with his family to New Zealand for a better life when he was younger.
When Adesanya was asked if he would be taking his belt home to Nigeria after UFC 305 if he won the title, Du Plessis interjected and suggested his opponent grew up rich.
Adesanya’s father is an accountant and his mother is a nurse and he attended the Chrisland School, Opebi — Nigeria’s leading private school.
Du Plessis asked if his rival would be taking his “servants” with him.
“Bro shut the f* up,” Adesanya angrily replied, as emotions boiled over. “You don’t even know anything about my story. You have no idea who the f* I am.”
When the camera panned back to Adesanya he was crying.
“He touched a subject there because I do this for my family,” he said with tears streaming down his face.
“I do this for my people I love, and I’ll fight for you forever, I swear to God.”
Du Plessis mocked Adesanya as soon as he got the chance.
“Come on guys, stop crying at the press conferences, it’s not that serious,” he tweeted immediately after the press conference.
Du Plessis seems to have become the master of mind games in the UFC. He made previous champion Sean Strickland cry before beating him for the middleweight strap in January, and now it was Adesanya’s turn.
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