Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen doesn’t think it’s wise for Dricus Du Plessis to rile Israel Adesanya up ahead of their championship clash Down Under this weekend.
Du Plessis will defend his middleweight belt for the first time since winning it from Sean Strickland when he makes the walk to headline the UFC 305 pay-per-view event, which takes place inside the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
To maintain his grip on the belt, the South African is tasked with stalling Adesanya’s planned return to the throne for a record third time.
Beyond championship stakes, however, their matchup appears to be motivated by a bad-blood rivalry, sparked by some comments Du Plessis made regarding his status as the first fighter to achieve title glory on MMA’s biggest stage having been born, trained, and resided in Africa.
An early Octagon interview also saw Du Plessis use the term “real African,” which rubbed the likes of Adesanya and Kamaru Usman the wrong way.
With that in mind, there appears to be a personal element to the bout for the Nigerian-New Zealander. And one ex-fighter thinks that’s a dangerous scenario for the champ…
Sonnen On Adesanya’s UFC 305 Return: ‘When He Has Something Personal…’
During a recent episode of his Good Guy / Bad Guy show alongside Daniel Cormier on ESPN MMA’s YouTube channel, Sonnen looked ahead to the matchup tasked with topping the lineup in Perth.
In terms of the bad blood that appears to be fueling the animosity between the pair of headliners, “The American Gangster” thinks Adesanya now has the one element that was missing from his last UFC fight.
“It’s wildly important that our viewers understand what these guys are fighting for,” Sonnen said. “Israel Adesanya has done his finest work when it’s personal. As a matter of fact, the worst performance he’s put forward was against Sean Strickland, and the only thing that was missing was a personal feud. He didn’t have a problem with Sean when that fight happened. He wasn’t really looking at Sean. … When that fight was over, Dana wanted to do a rematch; in fact he offered Izzy an immediate rematch. He said no. He just never had heat with Sean.
“When he has something personal — excuse me, he called out Yoel Romero. You know how crazy that is? … It was personal. He told Dana, ‘Hey man, I got into this business because there’s guys that I want to fight…I don’t care what Yoel’s record is.’ That’s why this is so important,” Sonnen continued. “They didn’t just throw a belt out there…didn’t just dangle some pay-per-view points. The belt has nothing to do with it on Izzy’s side. And I will just contend for you, he does his final work when it’s personal.”
Having stated that he’s returning to competition to “take heads” instead of with any focus on the gold, Adesanya will hope to start by beheading the reigning middleweight kingpin come fight night in Australia.
And should he settle that grudge successfully by having his hand raised, perhaps he’d next turn his gaze back to Strickland and redemption against his fellow former champ.
