Dricus Du Plessis believes Israel Adesanya doesn’t have that fire in him anymore.
Ahead of their blockbuster clash at UFC 305, du Plessis has questioned Adesanya’s motivation at this stage of his career, given the Nigerian’s illustrious 27-fight record, two title victories and nearly half-a-dozen title defenses.
The South African believes Adesanya doesn’t have that fire in him anymore. Du Plessis also thinks that Izzy has nothing left to prove as he has already established himself as one of the best middleweights in UFC history.
“It comes down to seeing the hunger, seeing the fire in someone’s eyes and I don’t see that,” Du Plessis told mainevent. “I can’t remember if he explicitly said he’s retiring, but he said he’s taking off for a couple of months. I don’t remember if he said he was retiring but it almost gave off that, and everybody would have understood that. He did what he had to do in the sport, and he has reached the pinnacle of what he’s gonna reach in his career when it comes to the winning streak. He’s never gonna have that streak again. Defending the belt as many times as he did. He doesn’t have the time or anything to beat that, so what is he doing this for?”
The highly anticipated fight between Du Plessis and Adesanya was expected to take place at UFC 293, but it was delayed due to ‘Stillknocks’ recovering from lingering injuries. ‘The Last Stylebender’ fought Sean Strickland instead and lost by a dominant decision.
Du Plessis then beat Strickland by a closely contested decision to win the belt at UFC 297.
