Israel Adesanya realized that just like Dricus Du Plessis, he’s brought race into a rivalry before.
UFC middleweight champion Adesanya used to refer to former rival Robert Whittaker as a mozzie (Maori Australian), questioning his heritage as a New Zealand-born fighter who represents Australia.
But after Du Plessis claimed winning UFC gold would make him the first real African champion, Adesanya admitted it’s hypocritical of him to get riled up since he did the same thing to Whittaker. But Adesanya is owning up to it, and thinks Du Plessis should do the same.
“Funny enough, someone brought it to my attention that I did the same thing to Rob,” Adesanya said on The Halfcast Podcast. “And I was like, ‘True, I did, because I called him a mozzie.’ And I was like, ‘F*ck, they’re right.’ But guess what? I was wrong. That’s called growth. I learned. I realized that’s – how’s this, a black guy, telling this f*cking Maori that, ‘Nah, you’re not a f*cking true Kiwi because you live in Australia.’ That’s stupid. So again, this is called growth.
“I can admit when I was wrong. I f*cked up back then, but you learn. So I would never say that to Rob again because, who am I to try and take away his heritage? That’s f*cking stupid. I wasn’t even born here, but I claim to be from here because this is where my fighting heritage is from. But for me to have to say that to Rob, that was very stupid and that was wrong. So I shouldn’t have done that – but you learn.”
Adesanya is looking to defend his title at UFC 293 on Sept. 9 in Sydney. Du Plessis emerged as a No. 1 contender when he TKO’d Whittaker at UFC 290, but Adesanya isn’t sure if Du Plessis will make it to the fight. “The Stylebender” warns Du Plessis that a beating is waiting for him regardless of the date.
“Now he doesn’t want to fight,” Adesanya said. “Even after, he’s like ‘Oh bro, all you had to do was put some gloves on, we could have got it on right there.’ B*tch ass, f*ck you wouldn’t have because guess what? He didn’t want it. When I told him feel me, people were like, ‘Oh, he’s so classy walking away. He’s so classy.’ I’m like, ‘Bro, he didn’t even walk away. He felt me. He didn’t want to feel me. He’s not a scared man – he’s a tough dude. He’s very crafty, and he’s got a good team behind him – smart team.
“I don’t think he’s a scared man, but I’ll tell you he’s scared of me. You know when you look in someone’s eyes, you just know straight away. He didn’t call me into the cage, I stepped in the cage myself. I didn’t even see him call me … I stepped into the cage because I made this sh*t happen. This motherf*cker – I hope … I really was hoping he’d f*cking step up. But he’s a b*tch, and I’ll tell you right now: Keep training. Keep training. I’ve got something for your ass, so keep training.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 293.