Despite the fact that Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis had a fierce rivalry with one another, the UFC 290 event was not the only time that these two competitors came into contact with one another.
After du Plessis’ victory over Robert Whittaker in September, the Middleweight Champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) went into the cage and spewed obscenities filled with profanity on ‘Stillknocks’.
Due to the fact that du Plessis once challenged and instigated ‘The Last Stylebender’ by asserting that he aspires to become the first African-based UFC champion, the origins of their passionate fight can be traced back to their common history. Despite the fact that Adesanya was born in Nigeria, he currently trains in New Zealand.
Recently, a video that was uploaded on X in 2016 and reposted by the user Home of Fight has been making the rounds on the platform. Alexander Volkanovski, the current holder of the featherweight championship, is seen in the video engaging in a sparring session with du Plessis at the Tiger Muay Thai training facility in Thailand.
An incident in which the South African fighter accidentally collided with “The Last Stylebender” is a very intriguing aspect of the video. This is one of the reasons why the video is so intriguing. They proceeded with their training without raising the stakes any further, despite the incident that occurred.
See the video that is provided below:
Enlarge the Tweet
A wide variety of responses were obtained from the audience in response to the video clip.
Alex Pereira signals shift in focus, moving past Israel Adesanya trilogy
Recently, Alex Pereira made a statement that suggested he might be contemplating leaving the competition that he had with Israel Adesanya in the background.
Following his victory over Jiri Prochazka, which he achieved by knocking him out in the second round, and his subsequent acquisition of the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 295 in November, ‘Poatan’ instantly issued a challenge to Adesanya to fight him in a trilogy.
Pereira emerged victorious over Adesanya in kickboxing on two separate occasions during the course of four matches in combat sports. In the octagon of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, their fights resulted in one victory for each fighter. Pereira has a track record of 3-1 against Adesanya overall.
Following his victory over “The Last Stylebender” at UFC 281, which took place in November 2022, Pereira was able to earn the middleweight championship. However, he unfortunately lost the title in a rematch that took place at UFC 287. Despite the fact that a third fight between them may potentially put an end to their rivalry, Adesanya is now on hiatus. This decision was made after he was defeated by Sean Strickland at UFC 293, which resulted in him losing the belt.
During a recent question and answer session that was held by Ares FC (via MMA Fighting), the current champion of the 205-pound division stated that he is prepared to move forward in the event that Adesanya continues to chose to avoid competing.