Israel Adesanya labels potential clash against Dricus du Plessis "one of the most important fights in sporting history"

Israel Adesanya has high hopes for his potential fight against Dricus du Plessis. 'The Last Stylebender' recently weighed in on the possibility of going up against the South African fighter in the future and claimed their contest would be "one of the most important fights in sporting history."

It's no secret that Adesanya and du Plessis have no love for each other. Their feud started after du Plessis made crude comments about being more 'African' than Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, and Francis Ngannou. Adesanya wasn't pleased and responded by promising to teach him a lesson in the cage.

Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis also shared an intense face-off with strong racial undertones in the aftermath of UFC 290, where 'Stillknocks' defeated Robert Whittaker via second-round knockout to secure a middleweight title shot.

Unfortunately, an injury forced the South African fighter to withdraw from his scheduled fight against Adesanya at UFC 292. Sean Strickland later replaced him. However, it seems the Nigerian-born Kiwi remembers his promise to teach du Plessis a harsh lesson.

In a recent interview with Mike Bohn for MMA Junkie, Israel Adesanya explained how important the Dricus Du Plessis fight was to him and said:

"We'll see if he shows up. We'll also see how I feel... I do want that fight. I feel like that would be one of the most important fights in sporting history."

Catch Adesanya's comments below (10:00):

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Israel Adesanya vows to expose Sean Strickland at UFC 293

Israel Adesanya may not have gotten his chance to settle his grudge against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 293, but the Nigerian-born Kiwi isn't taking his replacement opponent lightly either.

As mentioned, Adesanya was looking forward to facing du Plessis at UFC 293, but his hopes were dashed after a foot injury ruled 'Stillknocks' out. When the matchup didn’t materialize, Adesanya got the opportunity to face another one of his fierce rivals, Sean Strickland.

Israel Adesanya has exchanged viciously personal shots over the past few years with Strickland. Their heated back-and-forth at the UFC 276 pre-fight press conference in July 2022 undoubtedly laid the foundation for this title fight to materialize eventually.

In the same interview with Mike Bohn, Adesanya claimed Strickland's trash-talking is an act and wants to expose 'Tarzan' in front of the world. He stated:

"Behind the scenes, he’s soft... I kind of want to show people what happens backstage, I want to show them on the main stage that he’s my b*tch... I’m on a warpath, and I’m going to end this man. He’s getting knocked out."