Zimbabwean UFC fighter Themba Gorimbo gives incredibly thoughtful response to Dricus du Plessis' Africa comment

Dricus du Plessis grabbed headlines when he took shots at Israel Adesanya and former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.

According to Dricus du Plessis, since he trains and fights out of the continent, the South African would be the first authentic African UFC champion when he wins gold, unlike Adesanya and Usman, who were born in Nigeria but grew up in New Zealand and the United States respectively.

Zimbabwean UFC fighter Themba Gorimbo has offered his take on the controversy surrounding UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya's condemnation of Dricus du Plessis' comments on his representation of Africa.

The middleweight contender's recent claims that he is a more genuine African than the 'Three Kings' (Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, and Kamaru Usman) seemingly upset Adesanya quite a little. As du Plessis' former training partner, Usman cautioned him to "be a little bit more careful" when speaking about ethnicity.

With all that in mind, Themba Gorimbo offered his take on the matter in a recent interview with MMA Mania, stating:

"What Dricus said was wrong. Firstly, at that point in time when the interview was done, he was not the only African fighter who breaths and smells African air or wake up in African sun with African address. I was in Africa too and we train 30 minutes away from each other."

In addition, Gorimbo argued that Dricus du Plessis is in the wrong for claiming that his remarks were misunderstood, regardless of how others may attempt to interpret them. Adding more context to du Plessis' remarks about Adesanya and Usman, he said:

"Izzy is the guy that any African kid looks up to who does MMA. Most African kids, including me.... I look up to Izzy. [Only] few look up to Dricus, which is great. We can get inspired by him but not a lot of kids look up to him to be honest. Because you know what.... the suffering is different."

Catch Themba Gorimbo's comments below (28:30):

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Alex Pereira weighs in on the potential Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus du Plessis clash

At UFC 288, Israel Adesanya defeated his long-time adversary Alex Pereira with a stunning knockout and won back the middleweight championship.

'The Last Stylebender' abstained from making any public challenges after the bout, although he did claim he wanted to fight a "certain" middleweight in South Africa. Since Adesanya has already beaten the top five competitors in the middleweight division, there seems to be a lack of viable contenders for the Nigerian-born Kiwi.

Dricus du Plessis and Robert Whittaker will lock horns at UFC 290 in what appears to be the promotion's attempt to build the next challenger. In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Alex Pereira weighed in on the matchup, claiming that du Plessis has no chance of winning against Adesanya:

"[Dricus Du Plessis] is a fighter who at the end of the first round was very tired. So how will a guy like that fight [for] five rounds against [Whittaker]. If he wins, it would be Adesanya [next]. I think [it's] impossible... Let's talk about it Du Plessis wins [against Whittaker]. I think it will be a massacre. Adesanya knows it. He wants to make history. He wants to make an easy fight."

Check out the video below: