If there were any questions about whether the middleweight championship fight that headlines UFC 305 was personal for Israel Adesanya, those questions were answered during the intense pre-fight press conference.
Tension between the former titleholder and reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis has been brewing for more than a year and emotions boiled over Friday ahead of an anticipated UFC 305 main event.
Friday’s press conference at Perth, Australia’s RAC Arena, the same venue as Saturday’s fights, began with a smattering of the standard pre-fight prattling to which combat sports fans are accustomed, but after some generic talk of training camps, mindset and strategy, the intensity quickly increased.
“I don’t need any extra motivation. (Expletive) the belt, I’m coming for your head,” Adesanya said at one point before he and Du Plessis stared each other down from a seated position at the podium.
Adesanya was born in Nigeria and moved to New Zealand with his family following a 10-month stay in Ghana when he was a child. The 35-year-old City Kickboxing superstar is popular in the ANZAC area and will have the Australian crowd in his corner on fight night despite being the challenger.
Much of the tension between the two athletes stems from Adesanya taking issue with how South Africa’s Du Plessis referred to himself as the UFC’s first “true African champion” when he pointed out he is the first UFC champion to be born, reside and train in Africa, which Adesanya felt was disrespectful to him and past African-born champions Kamaru Usman, also from Nigeria, and Cameroon’s Francis Ngannou.
Adesanya, while answering a question about culture, was explaining that he plans on taking the belt around the globe, including to multiple places in Africa to celebrate becoming a three-time middleweight champ.
Du Plessis, who is white, has always objected to Adesanya suggesting the “true African champion” comment was related to race or privilege, and so Du Plessis asked Adesanya if he was going to take any servants with him when touring with the belt — a reference to Adesanya telling ESPN in 2020 he grew up with domestic servants at a young age.
“My guy, it’s obviously a see and tell,” Du Plessis began. “We can see that what you mean, you’re saying that I made it about culture …”
That’s when Adesanya went off.
“Bro, shut the (expletive) up,” Adesanya interrupted. “You don’t even know anything about my story. You have no idea who the (expletive) I am. I’m going to show you who you are Sunday, so shut the (expletive) up.”
To which Du Plessis, 30, responded: “I don’t care about your story. … You’re talking about I made it about anything else other than being the first residing African champion. You can’t change that. You can’t change those facts.”
Shortly after that heated exchange, Adesanya could be seen smiling and blowing a kiss to members of his family who were in attendance at the press conference.
“He touched a subject there because I do this for my family. I do this for the people I love, and I’ll fight for you forever,” Adesanya said as his voice cracked, tears began rolling down his cheeks, and he gestured to his relatives. “Look, I am a (expletive) human being, I am a man, I can cry and whoop your ass at the same time.
“I feel the love from the (Perth) crowd. First time I fought here was (UFC) 221. That was February 2018. That was me making my dream come true. Sunday, I’m gonna (expletive) kill your dreams, bitch. I hope I kill your dreams.”
The former long-time champ lost a unanimous decision to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 this past September. Strickland then lost the title via split decision to Du Plessis at UFC 297 in January.
Adesanya announced a brief hiatus from the sport following his loss to Strickland, which happened at the end of a stretch that saw Adesanya compete in five middleweight title fights, and go through five championship-level training camps, within a year-and-a-half span.
Du Plessis and Adesanya were initially pitted face-to-face and exchanged words in the cage in July 2023 after Du Plessis moved to the front of the line at 185 pounds by stopping Robert Whittaker.
Six weeks ago, the pair squared off for a photo op at a press event and ended up staring at each other for more than a minute straight before they were separated.
Friday’s fiery press conference concluded with yet another face-off and there is one more to follow at the ceremonial weigh-ins before the two finally meet the Octagon, where by that point all the talking and staring will be impertinent to the fight itself.