Getty Image / Jeff Bottari
Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis were supposed to be scheduled to fight at UFC 293 in September. However, recent news may not allow that to happen.
As a result, the middleweight champion called out his opponent and even named a possible replacement if need be.
According to Ariel Helwani, Du Plessis is currently unofficially ruled out for UFC 293 due to injury. Reports claim that it’s too quick of a turnaround for the top contender.
Helwani also claims that Sean Strickland is the fighter in line to replace Du Plessis if that’s the case. Based on Ariel Helwani’s wording, it sounds like this is the direction the UFC is going.
It’s not quite official but pretty close at at this point that Dricus Du Plessis will not be able to fight Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 on Sept. 9 in Sydney. He was banged up going into the Robert Whittaker fight, and that turnaround is just too soon, I’m told.
If that ends up…
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 20, 2023
Israel Adesanya has been wanting to fight Dricus Du Plessis for a while now and was clearly emotional once that opportunity became a reality.
Now, the middleweight champion blasts Du Plessis for not being able to handle the quick turn around. Here’s what Adesanya had to say about it. Warning though, there is some explicit wording in the video.
Adesanya’s thoughts on the developing situation: pic.twitter.com/4IEI0OCDTP
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 20, 2023
It’s a shame that injury may prevent this matchup between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis. But the winner of this situation is Sean Strickland by far.
Strickland is currently on a two win fight streak after knocking out Abus
Magomedov in his last bout. He’s also currently ranked sixth in the middleweight division.
Although it’s not the fight Adesanya was hoping for, he’s certainly not shying away from Strickland.
With that said, an official announcement should be made soon, as all signs are pointing towards Dricus Du Plessis being ruled out.