Dricus Du Plessis: Israel Adesanya is the benchmark!
Dricus Du Plessis: Israel Adesanya is the benchmark!
Dricus Du Plessis believes that a win against Israel Adesanya will make him one of the greats in the field of MMA.
Du Plessis propelled himself into the middleweight title picture by irking Adesanya but still holds a great deal of respect for him as a fighter.
Israel Adesanya is the benchmark
“I’ve always looked at Israel Adesanya as the benchmark,” Du Plessis said.
“Now Izzy became a champion a long time ago, and I’ve looked at him and always knew this is where I need to be if I ever want to be the best in the world. This is the benchmark.
“He is one of the greatest to ever do it, and this fight for me is going to put me in that position. This is where I take over as one of the greatest to ever do it. This is where my years of building and climbing that ladder is going to a point where I am now the guy that’s one of the greatest to ever do it.”
Dricus Du Plessis needs to be smart
Du Plessis believes he will have to fight very smart to overcome Adesanya in Perth in August.
“He’s a very smart fighter,” Du Plessis said on Adesanya. “He figures out his opponents, and he sets a lot of traps. He does it incredibly well. So for me, this fight is just like how beating Robert Whittaker was. It’s a fight that people don’t think you’re going to win. It’s a hard fight.
“I’m fighting against arguably one of the greatest middleweights ever, and I have to go out there and prove that I am that guy. That’s what this fight is going to mean to me. It’s going to mean I told you I belong here. This fight is going to mean that Dricus Du Plessis is now in the conversation of being one of the greatest middleweights ever.”
Stylebender says he ‘has enough belts’
He has insisted that his next run in the UFC will be about settling scores not winning titles.
“I’m excited,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “It’s been a year, almost a year, like 11 months by the time I get back in the octagon. People are always like, ‘I hope you get the belt back, I hope you get the belt back.’ Like, I got belts. I don’t need anymore belts. I’m coming for heads.
“That’s what I want to do. I’m excited to come back, but everything comes at it’s own time. So, right now it’s training, chilling, working, relaxing, healing. Then when it’s time, it’s time for killing.”
Du Plessis has not fought since January, pulling out of a proposed fight at UFC 300 as he nursed an injury following his brutal war with Strickland.