Fighting really does solve everything.
Despite a heated rivalry that turned ugly on more than one past occasion, Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis put all that to bed after they battled it out in the UFC 305 main event. In the end, du Plessis came out on top with a fourth-round rear-naked choke submission to defend his UFC middleweight title, but immediately afterward he paid homage to Adesanya, calling the former two-time champ a “legend” and a future “Hall of Famer.”
After the loss, Adesanya said he may even hang out with du Plessis in the future, although that doesn’t prevent them from possibly fighting again. The only difference is Adesanya isn’t obsessed with tearing du Plessis apart like he was before they clashed on Saturday night.
“I’m not really desperate to get it back,” Adesanya said post-fight. “He gave me a lot of respect in there and I gave him his respect back. I already knew he was a fan of me. But now I’m a fan of his because we’ve been in there, we’ve done it. When I’m in South Africa, I’ll tap in with him. I said, ‘Look, we can hang out, but just so you know, when we have to fight again, I’m going to kill you.’ He’s lik,e ‘I’m going to kill you too.’ Respect is always there.
“Dricus is an African champion. But the three kings will reign supreme. That era [with Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou] right there was what set this off for people like him. He’s going to inspire another generation of African fighters as well. So congrats to him tonight. Until we meet again.”
There was a brief moment at the conclusion of the fight where it looked as if Adesanya was actually considering retirement as he removed his gloves while awaiting for his chance to speak to UFC color commentator Daniel Cormier.
Fighters removing their gloves and leaving them in the center of the cage is recognized as a symbol of retirement. Even du Plessis acknowledged it, saying, “Izzy, if you decide to retire tonight, thank you,” during his own post-fight interview.
It turns out Adesanya removing his gloves was much ado about nothing.
“People just read too much into shit,” Adesanya said. “For me, who knows what happens. Life is fleeting. Who knows what happens. [Du Plessis] might never come back if something happens. Any one of us in this room could go tomorrow. I try and take each fight, each moment as if it was my last.
“I only took the gloves off because it was tight after the fight. He’s got a strong head. I hit him with some shots so my hands were a bit, not broken, not even close, but just a little bit sore. So that’s why I took the gloves off. Nothing about retiring. No, I told you I’m not f*cking leaving. I’m not f*cking leaving until I want to leave.”
While he promises that he’s far from finished, Adesanya isn’t putting a timeline on a return for his next fight.
Because nothing is certain in life, much less the UFC, Adesanya hopes fans appreciate all of his performances, because he knows eventually the end will come.
“You’ll see me again when you see me again,” Adesanya said. “Enjoy me while I’m here because yous will miss me when I’m gone.”
