Du Plessis Targets Adesanya for First Title Defense: ‘That’s the Fight Fans Want to See’

Dricus Du Plessis knew the scorecards were going to be close, but he was confident he did enough get the nod against Sean Strickland in the UFC 297 headliner.

“It was a close fight, make no mistake – but I thought I had it. When that split decision came, I thought, ‘This is, 100 percent, 50-50.’ When they said ‘And new …,’ it felt like 15 years of work and sacrifice together in one single sentence. It feels surreal. It’s amazing,” Du Plessis said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“I thought I did enough to win the fight. It definitely was a close fight. He won the first round and I made the necessary adjustments. … At the end of the day, I went toe-to-toe with the self-proclaimed best boxer in the UFC.”

Strickland got off to a strong start behind his jab, but Du Plessis got better as the fight progressed, mixing in takedowns with his striking to keep his opponent off balance. Ultimately, that was enough for the South African to win a closely-contested split decision, though many observers thought Strickland deserved to retain his title.

Despite the close nature of the fight, UFC CEO Dana White didn’t appear to be interested in booking an immediate rematch.

“Eventually, these two are going to end up fighting again, I’m sure,” White said. “But we’re not thinking about an immediate rematch right now.”

Du Plessis, meanwhile, has turned his attention to Israel Adesanya. The two were building animosity in the second half of 2023 — especially after Du Plessis referred to himself as the UFC’s “real” African champ — but when “Stillknocks” was unable to compete at UFC 293, Strickland stepped in and upset “The Last Stylebender.” With Adesanya hinting at a return at some point this year, Du Plessis sees the fight as an ideal next move.

“It’s nothing personal,” Du Plessis said. “It’s not personal at all. That’s just the fight the fans want to see. I want to fight the best competition. There’s a lot of guys I’m going to be fighting, but the fans want to see Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis. There’s a lot of hype that was already built on it.

“If the fans, there’s some way they start backtracking and the fans don’t really want to see Adesanya, we don’t do that fight. It’s fine to me. I don’t care who it is. But that’s just the fight on top of my head that I think the people want to see and would get a lot of people excited.”