Israel Adesanya: Dricus Du Plessis declined to headline UFC 300 against me

Israel Adesanya says he was down to headline UFC 300, but Dricus Du Plessis wasn’t.

According to Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC), the UFC approached him to main event the April 13 card in Las Vegas against Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC), but the South African middleweight champion wasn’t ready.

Du Plessis outlasted Sean Strickland in a five-round battle this past January at UFC 297 to become champion. He called out Adesanya after the fight, but it appears a less-than three-month turnaround was too soon.

“There’s some things that were meant to happen,” Adesanya said on “This Past Weekend” w/ Theo Von. “They summoned me. I’m sure this is out there now, Eugene (Bareman) said some stuff, but they summoned me for 300 and I was like, ‘Yep, let’s roll.’ But their side didn’t want it. They didn’t want it.

“They just fought Strickland, so maybe he had a little bit of niggly injuries and stuff, but we’ve all got niggles and what not. But I’ve fought injured for the last how many fights, so that’s why I took time off just to let my body heal. It has healed, and I’m sure there will be more injuries. It just happens through training. Like what we do for work, it’s constantly something.”

As a result, UFC 300 will now be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between champion Alex Pereira, who takes on former champ Jamahal Hill.