Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis says he will use any means possible to walk away with the belt when he takes on Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya at UFC305 in Perth tomorrow morning, SA time.
This was the promise by the popular South African during a heated UFC press conference at the RAC Arena in Perth yesterday.
“I go out there and I fight the way I fight. I can make it an ugly fight, I can make it a pretty fight, at the end of the day I am winning this fight,” said Du Plessis when asked what he needs to do to keep his belt.
‘I need to be perfect’
Du Plessis though admitted that he would have to be at his very best if he is to successfully defend his crown against a man who will go down as one of the greatest middleweights the UFC has ever seen.
“At the end of the day, this man (Adesanya) is here for a reason, so I need to be perfect in this fight, which is why I am undefeated in the UFC. And it is going to stay that way,” said Du Plessis.
The two fighters have been involved in a lengthy to-and-fro over recent months about who is truly African, with Adesanya being born in Nigeria, but over his career has trained and lived in New Zealand, China and the United States, while Du Plessis is the only fighter on the UFC roster to have been born, raised and train on the African continent, and he still does so with his base in Pretoria.
South Africa has the chance to do a double in Perth with the Springboks playing the Wallabies this morning and although a victory would be great, Du Plessis said he doesn’t need any extra motivation to have his hand raised after his fight.
‘I am willing to die’
“I have the same motivation I have when I won that belt (in January), when I made my debut and right now as a champion,” he said.
“I am not defending my belt. I am going to fight like I never had that belt, because once I walk into the octagon that belt goes to an official and it is given to an official who gives it to the winner.
“So, while the fight is happening, that is nobody’s belt and I am willing to die and kill to get that belt back.”
The ongoing feud between Du Plessis and Adesanya will finally reach boiling point after months of bad blood and if yesterday’s presser is anything to go by, this is going to be a war for the ages.
