Israel Adesanya (image via UFC/YouTube)

By FCF Staff

It remains to be seen when Israel Adesanya will return to the Octagon and who he will face. But, the former middleweight champ has made it clear he still intends to fight Dricus Du Plessis.

Adesanya and Du Plessis exchanged words repeatedly in 2023 and the two were on track to fight, before the latter was sidelined with an injury. Adesanya ended up fighting Sean Strickland in September instead and lost the title via unanimous decision.

At UFC 297 this past weekend, Du Plessis secured the middleweight crown by recording a split decision win over Strickland. After watching Du Plessis win the belt, Adesanya relayed on his YouTube channel that he’s happy for his rival (quotes via MMA Fighting.com).

“The main event, it was nice to watch,” Adesanya said. “I thought Dricus, I thought he would use his wrestling more in the middle of the rounds, but he did use it at the end, which was smart of him to steal the rounds. I thought maybe, my ‘guesstimate’ on watching this, [rounds] 3, 4, 5 he took. Now he is the fourth African champion in UFC history, so congrats to you my African brother Dricus du Plessis.”

“Legit I’m happy for him, I actually like his story,” Adesanya added. “But he still did what he did and I’m still going to test that ass.”

Following Adesanya’s loss to Strickland, the 34-year-old Nigerian-born fighter said he planned to take a break from fighting. Du Plessis called Adesanya out again after he was awarded the middleweight title on Saturday.