Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya were involved in one of the most intense face-offs in UFC history ahead of their blockbuster fight.
Du Plessis and Adesanya came head-to-head for the first time since the announcement of their fight at a press conference in Perth, Australia.
The championship bout, which will take place at UFC 305 on August 17, will mark Du Plessis' first defence of his UFC middleweight title following his victory over Sean Strickland last January.
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As for Adesanya, it will be his first Octagon outing since he lost the UFC middleweight belt to Strickland at UFC 293 last year.
Ahead of their highly-anticipated clash next month, Du Plessis and Adesanya took part in an extremely intense staredown that will go down in UFC history.
Du Plessis and Adesanya faced off without breaking eye contact and had to be separated by security.
The showdown between the middleweight stars will headline the event from the RAC Arena in Perth.
Speaking at the presser, 'The Last Stylebender' slammed the South African fighter's stance on the 'three kings' - who where Adesanya, Francis Ngannou and Kamaru Usman.
"He tried to discredit the three kings and say that he is the real true African Champion, and I was like, 'It’s a weird mindset, bro, like, he came into the UFC, I knew who he was a little bit. But I didn’t go over the f**k this fake dude coming in'," he said.
"I just, so cool, he’s not African in the UFC. But then him discrediting me, Francis Ngannou, Kamaru Usman, that took me off a little bit. So, that’s what started this. But again, I’ll finish it."
Du Plessis fired back: "And as far as discrediting, never discredited anybody. Stating facts. Where do I reside? What’s my postal code? Where do I train? Where do I live, where was I born? In South Africa. Still there. Still training. And I want this belt from South Africa. I didn’t try anywhere else. That was the only thing I stated.
"So, never discredited anybody. Quite frankly, I don’t really care about how it rubbed him off the wrong way. I don’t, I don’t care."
Topics: Israel Adesanya, UFC
Nasir Jabbar