Israel Adesanya has knocked middleweight champion Dricus du Plessisā colonial mindset, claiming the South African is not one African as the build-up to their UFC 305 main event in Australia on August 18 intensifies.
The animosity between du Plessis and Nigerian-born Adesanya stems from comments the South African made about Adesanya, and fellow African UFC champions Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou over a year ago.
During his impressive run to the middleweight title, du Plessis said he wanted to become the āfirst real African championā because he still lives and trains in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Adesanya is based in New Zealand while Usman and Ngannou both live in America.
Adesanya later confronted du Plessis in the cage after his win over Rob Whittaker at UFC 290 in July last year, and the pair have been on a collision course ever since.
Speaking to CODE SPORTS in Sydney on Thursday, Adesanya explained why du Plessisā comments rubbed him the wrong way.
āHeās not one of us, the way he tried to discredit me, Francis, and Kamaru, itās like heās not one of us. Youāre not one of the three kings,ā Adesanya said.
The way he approached it was with a colonial mindset. He couldāve come in and said, āItās cool that we have three African champions. It would be cool to be the fourth one.ā But heās like, āNo, Iām the real African champion.ā He couldāve been one of us, but he doesnāt want to be one of us. Where does that mindset come from? You see this, and you want it all for yourself.ā
With six weeks to go before they settle their differences in the Octagon, Adesanya says du Plessis is now attempting to distance himself from those comments.
āHeās trying to backtrack and take it back,ā Adesanya said. āShut up. You know what you did, donāt back down now. I spoke to him in my native tongue. For me, itās nice to lock in and let him know itās not playing around.ā
Adesanya hasnāt fought since his shock UFC 293 defeat to Sean Strickland in Sydney last September. Itās his longest-ever stretch between UFC fights, and he used the time to heal a few injuries.