Four Takeaways from Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya’s All-African UFC Title Fight

The champ remains the champ

For the first time in two years, the UFC middleweight belt didn’t go to the contender. Although he came in as a slight favorite, du Plessis was facing the last person to successfully defend his title, and he approached the fight with his trademark combination of intensity and ferocity. In the second round, he took Adesanya down three times in failed attempts at a submission, and withstood a barrage of body strikes. It was in the fourth round, where he landed deadly hooks on Adesanya, that he finally submitted his opponent with a rear naked choke.

“I said I'd come in here to die for this belt and I’m alive right now and that's just a bonus,” du Plessis said while celebrating his win in the octagon. “I said I'd come here to take a life if I had to, luckily we didn't have to do either of those things. Here I am, still champion, baby!”

Mutual respect between two African champions

As heightened as the animosity between du Plessis and Adesanya was before the fight, there was always some level of respect between the two fighters, with the former describing the latter as “the best middleweight other than myself.” That respect was better amplified at the end of the fight.

“This is the best I've ever felt, the best I've ever looked, I just fought the better man on the night and I give him respect for that,” Adesanya, who expressed some disappointment in himself for not coming out on top, said after the fight. Du Plessis returned the gesture, gifting Adesanya his jacket with an embroidered South African flag, stating that he “can’t not respect that man” at the post-fight press conference, even if he doesn’t think they’ll ever be friends.

“At this level it's hard to keep people down and this man is the king of getting back up,” du Plessis said, referencing his multiple takedown attempts in the fight and Adesanya’s famed prowess at winning fights that last the entire five rounds.

A win for Africa

Moving away from the chatter about who the true African champion is, du Plessis and Adesanya agreed that their fight, the first ever All-African title match in the UFC, is a huge win for Africa. The South African champ invoked the late, great freedom fighter Nelson Mandela after the fight, stating that there’s a unifying power in sports and saying that his gift to Adesanya was a totem of their historic fight.

For Adesanya, he said he believes du Plessis will inspire the next generation of African fighters, the same way he, fellow Nigeria-born Kamaru Usman and Cameroonian Francis Ngannou did with their title-winning feats. “I think Africa won tonight,” he said. Although there’s much growing that needs to be done locally, it’s clear that the UFC and mixed martial arts fighting has great potential in Africa.

It’s also the perfect set-up to the UFC finally hosting an event on the continent, which could be a reality within the next year, as UFC Senior Vice President Dave Shaw said after the fight. While he brought up important considerations like location, timezone and financial structure, the UFC exec is confident that an event will be hosted on the continent soon.

The Stylebender is not going anywhere yet

For the first time in his MMA pro fighting career, Adesanya has suffered consecutive defeats. Before this weekend’s bout, he hadn’t fought in nearly a year, which caused concern that the man affectionately known as “The Last Stylebender” was on the brink of retirement. After his loss to Du Plessis, however, he declared that he would keep fighting.

“I’m not leaving,” Adesanya declared. At 35 years old, the Nigeria-born, New Zealand-raised fighter is in the final years of a career that has been largely defined by tenacity and charisma. Without a doubt, he’ll be looking to get back to the mountain top, even if it’s for the last time.