“I pray to god he keeps winning” – Israel Adesanya vows to drag Mystery African fighter’s carcass across South Africa in potential title fight

UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya already has an opponent in mind after UFC 287 win...

“I pray to god he keeps winning” – Israel Adesanya vows to drag Mystery African fighter’s carcass across South Africa in potential title fight

After a stunning second-round knockout win over Alex Pereira at the UFC 287, Israel Adesanya just became a two-time UFC middleweight champion. Pereira has defeated Adesanya a total of three times- twice in kickboxing and once in MMA. This had been a big point of criticism against Adesanya leading up to the fight.

But Adesanya changed that last night. Now both have a win over each other in the UFC which usually people would call for a rematch trilogy like in the case of McGregor vs Poirier.

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Adesanya and Dana White, on the other hand, revealed that Pereira will most likely move up the weight class thus killing the idea of a trilogy. When asked about his future plans and prospective opponents, Adesanya seemed to have somebody particular in mind.

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“Look. F*ck, I don’t want to give no clout,” Adesanya says. “I wanna whoop his a so bad. I want to do it in South Africa, or… If he does work, and I pray to God, he keeps winning, I will gladly drag his carcass across South Africa. Wallahi.”

Related: Alex Pereira son: Why did Israel Adesanya taunt his rival’s kids?

Who is this mystery fighter Israel Adesanya is talking about?

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(UFC 287 post-fight press conference. Image source: Twitter via MMAfighting.com)

Reportedly, this mystery African fighter Israel Adesanya is referring to is a certain Dricus du Plessis. He is a South African professional MMA fighter who currently competes in the UFC’s Middleweight division. He previously competed in the Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) Middleweight category, where he was the former Middleweight and Welterweight Champion. Dricius currently is 5-0 in the UFC and ranks #6 in the UFC middleweight rankings.

Apparently, in an interview ahead of UFC 285, Dricius du Plessis questioned the legitimacy of fighters like Adesanya and Kamaru Usman as African Champions since they live in developed countries like New Zealand, and the US.

 “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.” Adesanya didn’t take this comment so kindly. He wants du Plessis to gain more experience and credibility so that he can “whoop his a**” in order to instill some respect for the fighters that paved the way before him. This may be another rivalry brewing. In the distant future, we may see Dricius du Plessis and Israel Adesanya head-to-head for the UFC Middleweight title belt.

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