Earlier today, the UFC held a press conference for this weekends pay per-view, where Israel Adesanya makes his return to challenge for Dricus Du Plessis' Middleweight title in the headliner.
The press conference began with a question for the Middleweight champ, who was asked if he will need to "make the fight ugly" to win. "I don't have to make it an ugly fight, (but) I will be making it an ugly fight, I can make it a pretty fight, I'm winning the fight, that at the end of the day is what's gonna happen." said Du Plessis
Adesanya was asked the next question, although it wasn't one that was particularly interesting, the Perth crowd broke out in cheers once Izzy spoke into the mic, a complete contrast from his last bout where Sean Strickland had the entire Sydney crowd behind him. Despite many fans turning on Adesanya in recent years, it appears absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Dan Hooker also makes his return this weekend after a 13 month layoff following his war with Jalin Turner. Hooker let fans know the damage he took in that fight didn't make him any less of a warrior, "You can't count me out of a fist fight brother, I got a punchers chance against any man on the face of the planet." This fight looks to be one of those punchers chance situations, as Hooker takes #5 Lightweight Mateusz Gamrot, who holds a 7-1 record since 2021, including a win against Turner.
The press conference didn't get too exciting until the very end, when Adesanya asked a question to a reporter about when the odds changed to make him the 'underdog.' You can tell Dricus was waiting for any sort of opening to make a comment like this, as he immediately responded to Izzy by making a reference to his dog fetish controversy that transpired during UFC 293 fight week, as the crowd roared in laughter
Dricus was clearly feeling himself after the response to the dog comment, and would persist, making a remark about Adesanya's lavish upbringing after Izzy mentioned he'd be going on a world tour after he wins the belt. Dricus said, "Are you taking the servants with you?"
Obviously, Izzy wasn't a fan of this comment, turning what started as an argument about Adesanya's childhood into a back and forth about Dricus' "Real African champion" speech, which was the intial catalyst for this heated rivalry.
To end the press conference, Izzy acknowledged that he was hurt by Dricus' comments about his upbringing, "He touched a subject there cause I do this for my family, I do this for the people I love, I will fight for you forever, I swear to god" as Adesanya pointed towards his parents who were sat in the front row. Adesanya continued, "I'm a f***ing human being, I am a man, I can cry and whoop your ass at the same time. I feel the love from the crowd, first time I fought here on (UFC) 221, that was me making my dreams come true, Sunday I'm gonna kill your dreams b***h" as Adesanya wiped the tears from his eyes.
If the tension between these two wasn't already great enough, this press conference might have brought this rivalry to it's boiling point. It will be interesting to see how the shared animosity between these two fighters affects their title bout.