Things seemed to be going pretty well for Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, but the momentum shifted quickly in the deciding round.
Midway through the fourth round, Dricus du Plessis battered the Nigerian-born New Zealander with a series of right hands that sent him to the canvas, before the reigning champion drew a tap-out from Adesanya via rear-naked choke at the 3:36 mark of the round.
“For me, I’ll have to watch it again, because I don’t think I was shaken. I slipped and I was like, ‘What the hell was that?’ And then he tried to grab me as I was coming out,” Adesanya said at the post-fight press conference at UFC 305. “Everything’s always a blur for me, so I can’t remember how I got him down…
“I tried to fight the top hand but I don’t know what mistake I made. I tried to turn towards him but he got on my back, probably because I was using the fence. He switched to a gable grip and I couldn’t let go like I wanted to. You’d have to see it properly to really know what happened but I felt great. I knew he was tough so I wasn’t too surprised.”
Before the end of the bout, Adesanya was winning on the stand, using a multifaceted arsenal to attack his opponent’s head and body, and “The Last Stylebender” outscored du Plessis 97-90 in key strikes during the bout, according to data from UFCStats.com.
“I felt like I was winning the fight,” Adesanya said. “I hit him to the body a few times and he kept responding as I hit him to the body, so I felt my attack coming, but again, he’s a tough guy and has a strong mind. I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed in myself, but I’m proud of how I conducted myself in this camp and I came out prepared. Losing sucks.”
“In my eyes, it looked like I was winning the match until I wasn’t. As long as my performance was good, I was proud of myself. I just don’t like the result. But again, I’m not obsessed with the result, I’m just proud of my performance.”
There seemed to be quite a feud between Adesanya and du Plessis going into the main event of UFC 305, but after the bout, all debate about who truly represents Africa was put to rest.
“I’m not desperate to get it back. He showed me a lot of respect there and I gave him the respect back,” Adesanya said. “I already knew he was my fan. I already knew he was my fan, but now I’m his fan. We fought there, we did it. When I’m in South Africa, I’ll tap-in with him. I said, ‘Look, we can hang out, but if we fight again, I’m gonna kill you.’ He says, ‘I’m gonna kill you.’ The respect is always there.
“Drikas is the champion of Africa, but the Three Kings will reign supreme. It was a generation that inspired the rise of guys like him. He will also inspire the next generation of African fighters. So congratulations to him tonight. Until we meet again.”
Adesanya made it clear in his post-fight interview in the Octagon that he has no plans to retire, and although the 35-year-old is 1-3 in his last four promotional appearances, he still has a lot he wants to accomplish.
“It’s strange how this whole timeline works. It’s fate after all. This is not something I planned,” he said. “This is not something I made happen, but I believe in strange things. Everything happens for a reason. There were situations in my life that didn’t go the way I wanted. Then, because of certain things that happened to me, I understand why things didn’t go the way I wanted them to at the time. But still, this is my destiny. It’s not about the belt. It’s not about all those things. It’s just that I do what I want to do with this game that closes the show. Like I said, I still have a long way to go.”
