The undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, has revealed that he previously sparred with arch-rival, Dricos du Plessis years ago – claiming that when it came to dramatic exchanges between the two, he had “screwed up” the South African.
Adesanya, the current middleweight champion and two-time undisputed champion, most recently claimed the title at UFC 287 in April of this year, successfully regaining the division title with a stunning second-round win over Alex Pereira in a UFC rematch for the pair.
As for du Plessis, the Pethora native recently improved to 6-0 since moving to the UFC back in 2020, securing a second-round TKO stoppage on joint opponent, Derek Brunson at UFC 285 in March.
Set to return in an official middleweight tournament at UFC 290 in July during International Fight Week, du Plessis will take on former middleweight champion and soon-to-be joint opponent, Robert Whitaker – as the victor prepares to fight Adesanya for the gold later. from this year.
Israel Adesanya reveals her previous sparring session with Dricus du Plessis
After making his feelings about a possible clash with du Plessis known, Adesanya claims he outsmarted the former during a spectacular exchange in the previous sparring session.
“So, you know what’s funny? What’s funny to me – I remember this, we really had a fight,” Israel Adesanya said during an appearance on idle. “We already fought. Hey, sparring is sparring. Sparing you know what, I’m from China. I was kickboxing there, I didn’t have MMA, nothing. I was just kickboxing. I had MMA already, but it didn’t It wasn’t sharp. It was blunt. Jiu-jitsu was very blunt and blunt.”
“So, we’re arguing — I don’t know if we played two innings or one, that’s a long time ago too,” Israel Adesanya explained. “This is 2014, a long time ago. I remember like it was mine in wrestling. But when hitting, I just screwed it up.” (written by MMA News)