UFC Middleweight Champ Dricus du Plessis Eyes Israel Adesanya Fight in South Africa

For his next challenge, UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis would like to fight ex-champ Israel Adesanya in June or July in his home country of South Africa, he told ESPN's Leonard Solms.

"Absolutely," du Plessis said when asked if that was his ideal matchup. "Fighting Izzy on home soil would be the ideal. That would be ticking a lot of boxes. He's one of the best to ever do it in the middleweight division.

"Of course, bringing the UFC to Africa would be awesome. That would be a victory in itself for MMA and for Africa. Of course, South Africa being my home country, it would be amazing to fight him on home soil."

Du Plessis needs to get healthy after suffering leg injuries in his middleweight title bout against Sean Strickland in January, but he doesn't believe it'll take too much longer for him to get ready.

"I'll be ready for June [or] July - I guess even [in] May, I'll be fit and ready to go. I just want to be able to have a proper camp... I would like to fight three times a year. That would be ideal, so June [or] July would be ideal," du Plessis told Solms.

Adesanya dropped the middleweight belt to Strickland last September but remains a UFC legend with a 24-3 record and five successful middleweight title defenses.

Du Plessis, 30, is 21-2 lifetime with a 7-0 UFC record. He notably defeated former interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker via second-round TKO in July 2023 before taking down Strickland seven months later.

Fighting Adesanya next seems like the logical move. The two have never faced each other, and Adesanya is the highest-ranked middleweight on the contender list outside Strickland.

Adesanya is clearly interested in fighting du Plessis. However, he wanted a fight at UFC 300, which takes place on April 13. Adesanya said on Theo Von's podcast that the du Plessis camp wasn't interested in fighting then. Du Plessis has fired back, saying that the reason why he turned it down was due to injury. He also said that Adesanya doesn't get to dictate the terms of the fight as an ex-champ.

Ultimately, it appears these two will fight at some point. The question is where and when. But we do know that Du Plessis has thrown down the gauntlet for South Africa in the early summer.