Israel Adesanya reveals he accepted UFC 300 fight with Dricus du Plessis but ‘they didn’t want it’

UFC 300 almost had a much different main event.

Ahead of the historic card on April 13, UFC officials were scrambling to find the biggest possible fight to headline the card and Israel Adesanya says he got the call for a showdown against reigning middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.

The long rumored fight was plotted as the main event for UFC 300 but Adesanya claims that du Plessis and his team ultimately declined.

“There’s some things that were meant to happen,” Adesanya said on Theo Von’s podcast. “They summoned me, I’m sure this is out there now … but they summoned me for [UFC] 300 and I was like ‘yep, let’s roll.’ But their side didn’t want it. They didn’t want it.

“They just fought [Sean] Strickland so maybe he had a little bit of niggly injuries and stuff but we’ve all got niggles and what not.”

As Adesanya noted, the bad timing for the fight likely came down to the damage that du Plessis absorbed during a grueling five-round war with Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January. The quick turnaround probably made it tough for du Plessis to then return in April.

It’s a similar circumstance that actually prevented du Plessis from getting his first title shot after he knocked out former champion Robert Whittaker this past July but dealt with a foot injury that prevented him from facing Adesanya two months later. Strickland ended up taking his place and pulled off the massive upset to beat Adesanya and become champion.

Adesanya noted that he’s also faced injuries throughout his career but always showed up to fight.

“I’ve fought injured for the last how many fights, that’s why I took time off just to let my body heal,” Adesanya said. “It has healed and I’m sure there will be more injuries, it just happens through training. Like what we do for work, it’s constantly something.”

As far as what comes next, Adesanya still appears to be the top choice to face du Plessis in his first title defense with both fighters pushing for a showdown in Africa.

It remains to be seen if that location will get booked but for now Adesanya and du Plessis will stay on a collision course for a different date rather than clash at UFC 300.