Israel Adesanya is not too happy about current champion Drycus du Plessis refusing to compete at UFC 300.
The former middleweight champion, who lost his belt to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, was eager to return to action against reigning champion du Plessis in Saturday’s high-profile event. In fact, “The Last Stylebender” had been training for about three to four weeks before it became clear that a bout with du Plessis at UFC 300 was off the table.
“I was heartbroken, thinking it was us and thinking, ‘Oh!They’ll announce it, they’ll announce it, and Tim [Adesanya’s
manager] He and Hunter were holding out as they seemed to be running back and forth, screaming Hunter and Dana.I’m glad you called before Tim announced, I think it was 3 minutes before Jamahal was announced. [Hill] vs Alex [Pereira] Because if I had known on Instagram, I would have expected Dana to call me because I was ready and I was doing all my training,” Adesanya said on “The MMA Hour.” . “I thought I was done. I had been training for maybe four weeks, three weeks in Switzerland. But, yeah, for me, I didn’t want to scroll down and find out, but Tim called me and said, “Look, it’s not you,” he said. The pay-per-view had just finished and he called me and I was like, “What?” no! ‘Cause the trailer came out and we were expecting it to be announced, and she found out and was like, ‘Oh my God!’ So I felt like whatever it is, it is what it is. ”
When asked what he thought about du Plessis refusing to compete at UFC 300 due to injury, Adesanya replied:
“They’re not built like us. No…Okay, I mean, I wasn’t fully healed yet. I’m taking time off. And then the opportunity came. When I saw that, I thought, “Oh, this is history.” This is monumental, UFC 300. Let’s do it. ” But again, they are not built like us. Myself, Alexander Volkanovski, Kamaru Usman. When we were champions, well, we just fought. Belt. The belt was at home. Even my fans, every time they see me now, they say, “Oh, I want that belt back.” Oh, they’re home, I’m a two-time middleweight champion. He will be 3 years old soon. It’s at home. It’s not about the belt. It’s coming for your head. Now it’s about fighting as much as we can. But he’s young and he did what he was supposed to do and it’s very good that he got this far and became a champion. But yeah, it is what it is, you want to be comfortable holding the belt. That’s your prerogative. But yeah, when we’re doing it, the belt. It’s about fighting against the best and that’s it. ”
Du Plessis has expressed interest in facing Adesanya at UFC 305 on August 17th in Perth, Australia.
