Dricus Du Plessis calls his own shots.
That’s why “Stillknocks” turned down a massive middleweight title fight against Israel Adesanya at UFC 293, and why the South African slugger is prepared to bail on the upcoming UFC 300 pay-per-view (PPV) card — also against Adesanya — until he makes a full recovery from his most recent appearance.
Du Plessis, 30, is just a couple of weeks removed from his title-winning performance against former champion Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in Toronto. UFC CEO Dana White has no plans for an immediate rematch, despite the razor-thin decision, and is expected to (eventually) pair “Stillknocks” against Adesanya — who is also recovering from injury.
When and where?
“I have no idea,” Du Plessis told Jacaranda FM. “For me right now, we are still busy with some scans, seeing what we can do in terms of after the fight. Some injuries, can we fight soon, is that a possibility, and all that. We have to make sure the longevity of my career is also taken into consideration. We’ve had a very active last year, year and a half. We rushed to get to this belt, we had to take every opportunity given to us. Right now, we need to be smart and defend this belt when it suits us.”
Du Plessis insists it’s “100 percent” better to skip UFC 300 in favor of a full recovery.
“UFC 300 obviously gonna be a milestone event. I would love to be part of that but not if that means I’m not gonna be fully recovered,” Du Plessis continued. “Defending my title is much more important to me than being on this milestone event. The real milestone event will be UFC in Africa and more importantly, South Africa. I can’t even explain to you how long I’ll be willing to wait to make that happen and defend my belt on home soil. That’s history. UFC 300 is just a number. It’s not as massive as UFC Africa.”
Fortunately for Du Plessis, Adesanya is on board
Good on him, not being bullied into a quick turnaround,
As it never usually works out for them
So basically DDP says he’s sitting out until the UFC decides to host a ppv in South Africa…Dana’s been talking about going to Africa “soon” for years. He didn’t pull the trigger when he had Usman, Adesanya and Ngannou as champs, so DDP may be waiting a while. This smells like an interm situation or being stripped if he really wants to wait them out.
They ain’t going to Africa this year or anytime soon imo
He is going to miss out on a pretty good payday as usually these big numbered events are loaded and get huge buys.
They did good numbers because they had amazing fighters on UFC 100 and 200,
This 300, cmon son… And it ain’t even close
You know it really hurts my feelings when completely dismiss a superstar like Yan Xionan! WTF bro!
And I mean Cody Garbrant came out of retirement for this!!
And fucking Holly Holm! How do you say she isnt a draw.
Pffff!!!
Who is Yan Xionan again?
Holly is gonna be 43 in a few months.
I joked 7yrs ago that shed still being going in her late 40s cause the division is a joke and has zero talent, ZERO !!!
I hope when they fight DDP comes out to Waka Waka ay ay ay welcome to Africa.
And someone hijacks Izzy walkout music to play We Come From the Land Down Under
300 is missing a main event. But Gaethje/Holloway, Oliveira/Tsaryukan, Jiri/Rakic, Kattar/Aljo are great fights involving recent former champs still in their primes against worthy opponents.
Not interested in Garbrandt. I think Xiaonan get wrestle fucked by Weili, but if not, it could be a barnburner. Weili Zhang has been in several memorable UFC fights regardless of gender.
I do agree with that. She’s the only WMMA fighter I think is worth watching in the UFC.
korrekt