UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus du Plessis recently gifted a jacket to Israel Adesanya after retaining his title at last weekend’s UFC 305. Following the bout, du Plessis shared a nice moment with Adesanya backstage when he gifted him the jacket and Adesanya was certainly delighted. He has now explained what the gift meant.
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I’m happy I got to fight again, appreciate all the energy from yous. Congrats @dricusduplessis , thank you for your honest words and speaking your truth. No matter what, Africa won tonight! DDP, you have the torch…light the fire and inspire! pic.twitter.com/sAayJ8RaCK— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) August 18, 2024
In the post-fight press conference, Dricus made it clear that on a personal level, they do not see eye-to-eye but after spending the time in the octagon they respect each other.
Dricus du Plessis says that the gift means a token of appreciation
Here is what he explained [via MMA Junkie]:
“After spending that time in the octagon, you can’t not respect that man and what he’s done in the sport. To give him that jacket was a reminder, a token of appreciation and a thank you for this. It’s a memory for me. It’s such a massive moment in my life fighting a great fighter like Israel Adesanya.
“I brought the jacket to specifically give it to him before the fight. It was going to be win or lose I was going to give him that because he said he wants to fight warriors from all the lands, and I respect that and I wanted to give him that as a token of appreciation of fighting and giving me that amazing fight and bringing the best out of me, and also as something to remember this magic moment of an all-Africa main event.”
Dricus du Plessis retained his middleweight title against Adesanya in a high-intensity bout that lasted four rounds and Dricus emerged victorious via submission. The two fighters were on the front right off the bat. Adesanya managed to break through Du Plessis’ defense and landed strong kicks in the first round. However, he encountered du Plessis’ powerful jabs.
The South African got Adesanya into submission in the second round but Adesanya escaped the hold. Following an neck to neck battle in the third round, Dricus landed accurate blows before getting Adesanya into the submission that saw him tap out.
Check out the post-fight interview below:
