Israel Adesanya: Dricus Du Plessis can't sit on his ranking, 'might have to fight two more times' before title shot

SYDNEY – UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya says Dricus Du Plessis might have to wait a while before getting his shot.

Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) emerged as a No. 1 contender when he scored a TKO of former champ Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 in July. However, due to injury, Du Plessis was unable to make a quick turnaround for Saturday’s UFC 293 event, which Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) is headlining.

Instead, Adesanya will face Sean Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews/ESPN+ and early prelims on ESPN+. Dana White was noncommittal to Du Plessis being next in line, and so was Adesanya.

“I don’t know – you have to ask Dana,” Adesanya told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “Dricus doesn’t know how to play the game. Look, you can’t sit on your f*cking – is it ranking or whatever? – and think you’ve got it locked in.

“This is the UFC. If you look back at the history of the UFC, sh*t happens, you know? So he thought he was sitting pretty, but he might have to fight two more times before he gets a shot at this.”

Jared Cannonier will serve as the official backup for Adesanya vs. Strickland. A pivotal middleweight clash between Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev takes place at UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi, and Adesanya is willing to consider those options too if he successfully defends his title against Strickland.

“He doesn’t call the shots – I do,” Adesanya said. “I need you to understand that. I call the shots. You don’t call the shots, ‘D*ckless.’ You need to understand this. You can sit pretty wherever you want, but if I decide to, I might give it to whoever wins between Costa and Khamzat, not you. Jared (Cannonier is) here as a backup – I didn’t even know he was a backup until (Tuesday). I saw him and was like, ‘What are you doing here?’

“When I had the shot at (Anderson) Silva and (Kelvin) Gastelum, I had other things planned. I was hurt in the Gastelum fight – that’s why I didn’t finish that triangle, because my ankle was f*cked. I had it locked on the ankle in the fifth round. I was like, ‘F*ck – I can’t cinch it, so I’m going to use it to sweep him.’ So I had to sweep him and get him up. But guess what? I did that camp with a f*cked up ankle. There’s many times I could have pulled out, but I still never pulled out of a fight.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 293.