On Saturday, January 20, Dricus Du Plessis will be challenging Sean Strickland for the middleweight gold at UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.
The showdown between UFC champ Strickland and South Africa’s du Plessis is expected to be an action-packed evening, as an official press conference has highlighted.
Du Plessis: "Israel Adesanya is irrelevant right now."
Strickland: "Izzy, shut your f*cking mouth."
The #UFC297 headliners dismissed the former champ's prediction for their title bout. pic.twitter.com/mrnODtGx7N
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) January 19, 2024
Ahead of the UFC 297, a press conference headlined by middleweight champion Strickland and challenger Du Plessis was held. Jon Anik interviewed Du Plessis on behalf of ESPN MMA, during the sit-down chat, the challenger admitted that Strickland’s win over Adesanya stole his interest in fighting “The Last Stylebender.”
As the two athletes were asked for their opinions, Du Plessis remarked,
“Israel Adesanya is irrelevant right now, that man is way on the holiday right now, let him stay there.”
Some of his crowd cheering moments during the press conference were also his confirmation that he plans on moving up to the light heavyweight division after this fight.
The comments on Adesanya started when a reporter said that Adesanya had given his prediction on their fight, and he had Du Plessis winning via submission.
As the trash-talk to one another continued, Strickland responded,
“Izzy, the f*cking guy, the f*cking cringe lord. F*ck Izzy, f*cking I took Izzy down and beat his as* on the ground. . . Izzy, shut your mouth.”
Adesanya is a two-time middleweight champion, and his recent prediction for the bout on the weekend has fired up the press conference and possibly the match.
Strickland is all prepared to defend his middleweight title for the first time when he faces du Plessis at UFC 297 this weekend.
