Dricus du Plessis vows to send a warning through the middleweight division in his next title defence against Israel Adesanya.
“Stilnox” will seek to defend his title for the first time against Adesanya in the main event of UFC 305 on August 17 in Perth, Australia. Adesanya has always been the benchmark of success for du Plessis, who hopes to assert his claim as a GOAT contender in the middleweight division with a win against “The Last Stylebender.”
“I’ve always looked at Israel Adesanya as my benchmark,” du Plessis told Fox West Texas, “Izzy became champion a long time ago, but I looked at him and I always thought, ‘If I want to be number one in the world, this is where I should be.’ … He’s one of the greatest fighters of all time, and for me, this fight is going to put me in that position. This is where I take over as one of the greatest fighters of all time.”
In addition to beating Adesanya, du Plessis is vowing to win in a way that will make other middleweight challengers lose confidence. The 30-year-old believes that after his performance against Adesanya, many top middleweight challengers will soon forego a title shot.
“I think there’s going to be a lot fewer people calling me, that’s for sure,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a lot fewer people calling me. I think there’s going to be a lot fewer top 10, top five guys saying, ‘No, I want to fight Dricus.’ … I think there’s going to be a lot of people saying, ‘No, maybe I have to fight a couple more times before I fight the champion.’ I think that’s going to happen. I can see myself casting doubt on every challenger at middleweight … They’re going to realize that the sport has changed forever, and if they don’t respond quickly, if they don’t adapt quickly, they’re never going to be there. And I think the fight is going to change forever.”
Duplessis won the title in a controversial split decision victory over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January. “Stilnox” plans to eventually move up to light heavyweight, but is in no rush. Duplessis plans to defend his middleweight title until there are no more challengers.
“I’m not in a rush,” he said. “I want to defend the title at least three times and then say, ‘OK, [move up]”If there isn’t a challenger that I think is really ‘wow’… I’ll defend the belt for now and then, if there’s a meaningful defense next, I’ll move on to the next one. I’m also in no rush to move up to light heavyweight. I’m just looking at it as a future goal, I’m in no rush. I’m solely focused on defending this middleweight title as many times as possible, so it makes sense for me to move up a weight class.”
