Here’s how the beef between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Duplessis began, This all started when Dricus first entered the UFC, Adesanya noticed him and even commended him for being a fellow African who made it to the UFC, however things took a sour turn when at a UFC media event back in March 2023, Duplessis declared that he would be the first real African champion if he won the UFC middleweight title.

“Did those belts ever go to Africa?” Du Plessis stated. “As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand. I’m going to take a belt to Africa.”
“I’m the African fighting in the UFC. Myself and Cameron (Saaiman), we breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we’re Africa born, we’re Africa raised, we still reside in Africa, we train out of Africa. That’s an African champion, and that’s who I’ll be.”

Dricus Duplessis

This, of course, angered Adesanya who considered this as disrespect to all other African born UFC champions namely, Francis Ngannou, Kamaru Usman and Adesanya himself, the animosity built between the two until after Dricus’s win at UFC 290 over Robert Whitaker, Izzy stepped into the cage to give Dricus a piece of his mind declaring “I will show you where you are from” to Dricus.

adesanyab berates duplessis

Duplessis on the other hand has since walked back his comments claiming he never called himself the first African Champion but said he would be the first African champion to live and train out of Africa. The South African also stated that when the previous champions won, their belts never went to Africa, despite there being proof online of each of the champions visiting their home nations after winning their championship belts. 

The clash between the two at UFC 305 looks to be the culmination of one of the most heated rivalries currently in the UFC, and we can’t wait to see who will come out on top.