Israel Adesanya took up golf during his break from competition, and middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis believes Adesanya will be playing a lot more of it after their UFC 305 fight on August 17.
Israel Adesanya picked up a new hobby during his break from competition. Middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis thinks it’ll be something Adesanya will do more often after UFC 305.
Du Plessis and Adesanya shared the stage at Tuesday’s UFC 305 on-sale press conference in Perth, Australia. This was ahead of their championship headliner on Aug. 17 at RAC Arena.
Adesanya, a two-time middleweight champion, returns to action for the first time since losing the title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 last September. During his time off, “The Last Stylebender” took up golf.
Things were surprisingly tame between him and du Plessis. However, there was one heated moment between the two.
“For me, there’s no tension from me,” du Plessis said. “I get into the octagon and I do my job, I do my business.”
“You can be the biggest asshole in the world or the nicest guy in the world,” he continued. “I’m going out there to kill you — and I hope you’re doing the same to me.”
“Otherwise, it’s not going to be a good night for you,” he added.
“And as far as discrediting, I’ve never discredited anybody,” du Plessis stated firmly. “[I’m] stating facts.”
“Where do I reside? What’s my postal code? Where do I train? Where do I live?” he asked rhetorically.
“Where was I born? In South Africa,” he answered himself. “Still there, still training.”
“I won this belt from South Africa,” he emphasized. “I didn’t travel anywhere else.”
“That was the only thing that I stated,” he clarified. “So, never discredited anybody.”
“And quite frankly, I don’t really care about how it rubbed him the wrong way,” du Plessis concluded. “I don’t care.”
“I don’t really give a f*ck where he’s from,” Adesanya shot back. “But I’ll show him who he is.”
“Whatever that means,” du Plessis retorted sarcastically.
“I’m glad you took up golf because that’s your retirement sport,” du Plessis added with a smirk. “I can understand you starting playing golf.”
Du Plessis is set to make his first title defense after earning a split decision win over Strickland at UFC 297 in January.