Middleweight champion called out for ‘colonial mindset’ by opponent ahead of UFC 305 Perth event

Israel Adesayna has called out middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis for his ‘colonial mindset,’ threatening their upcoming UFC 305 main event in Perth.

Israel Adesanya has slammed middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis for his “colonial mindset,” and claims the South African “is not one of us” as the build-up to their UFC 305 main event in Perth threatens to boil over.

The animosity between du Plessis and the Nigerian-born Adesanya stems from comments ‘Stillknocks’ made about Adesanya, and fellow African UFC champions Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou more than a year ago.

During his impressive run to the middleweight title, du Plessis said he wanted to become the “first real African champion” because he still lives and trains in South Africa.

Meanwhile Adesanya is based in New Zealand, with the Nigerian Usman and Cameroonian Ngannou both in America.

Israel Adesanya is not impressed with comments made by future opponent and middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis. Picture: Harry How/Getty Images/AFP

Adesanya later confronted du Plessis in the cage after his win over Rob Whittaker at UFC 290 a year ago, and the pair have been on a collision course ever since.

Speaking to this masthead in Sydney on Thursday morning, Adesanya explained why du Plessis’ comments rubbed him the wrong way

“He’s not one of us,” he said. “The way he tried to discredit me, Francis and Kamaru, it’s like…he’s not one of us.

“You’re not one of the three kings.

“The way he approached it was with a colonial mindset.

“He could’ve come in and said, ‘It’s cool that we have three African champions. It would be cool to be the fourth one’.

“But he’s like, ‘No, I’m the real African champion’. He could’ve been one of us, but he doesn’t want to be one of us.

“Where does that mindset come from? You see this and you want it all for yourself.

“Imagine going to this land and seeing all these beautiful animals – a horse with a long ass neck, a cow with a horn on its face – and you’re thinking, ‘This is a crazy place, look at all these people, I want it all for myself’.

“That’s the reality. That’s his mindset.”

Dricus du Plessis has made controversial comments around being the “first real African champion”. Picture: Vaughn Ridley / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

With six weeks to go before they settle their differences in Octagon, Adesanya says du Plessis is now attempting to distance himself from those comments.

“He’s trying to backtrack and take it back,” he said. “Shut up. You know what you did, don’t back down now.

“I spoke to him in my native tongue. For me, it’s nice to lock in and let him know it’s not playing around.”

Adesayna hasn’t fought since his shock UFC 293 defeat to Sean Strickland in Sydney last September. It’s his longest ever stretch between UFC fights, and he used the time to heal a few niggling injuries.

“I’ve just been living life, being Izzy,” he said. “People didn’t see me for months. I just removed myself. I was healing from some stuff as well, and I couldn’t train.

“But eventually the hunger resurfaces. I just needed to relax, eat and chill.”

Meanwhile, Strickland lost the middleweight title to du Plessis in a controversial split decision in January.

Strickland is adamant he won the bout and believes he deserves another title shot, but Adesanya backs du Plessis.

Although he wasn’t impressed with either man’s performance.

“I thought DDP just won, maybe by one round,” he said. “But, it was a sloppy fight. Just sloppy.

“It was tough, but sloppy.

“His style is really gumby, but he does it really well. You have to respect it otherwise he’ll give you a hard time. So I do respect it, even though it’s ugly.

“But, I can fight fire with fire too. Or I can fight fire with water as well.”

Originally published as Middleweight champion called out for ‘colonial mindset’ by opponent ahead of UFC 305 Perth event