Champ pulls plug on UFC 300 grudge match and says he’s ‘willing to wait’ for historic fight with bitter rival
UFC 300 likely WON’T feature the eagerly-anticipated grudge match between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.
The pair were seemingly on course to settle their bitter feud on the historic April card following Du Plessis’s middleweight title win at UFC 297 last month.
Adesanya has hinted at a spring showdown with the South African on social media several times over the last few weeks.
But DDP – who revealed to SunSport that he’d be willing to perform a quick turnaround to headline the card – has loftier ambitions than fighting on in the Sin City extravaganza.
He told Jacaranda FM: “UFC 300, obviously, gonna be a milestone event.
“I would love to be part of that but not if that means I’m not gonna be fully recovered.
“Defending my title is much more important to me than being on this milestone event.”
MMA‘s top promotion have yet to host an event in Africa, although President and CEO Dana White is keen to do so in the next few years.
And topping the bill of the first event on the continent would mean far more to Du Plessis than facing Adesanya at UFC 300.
He said: “The real milestone event will be UFC in Africa and more importantly, South Africa.
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“I can’t even explain to you how long I’ll be willing to wait to make that happen and defend my belt on home soil.
“That’s history. UFC 300 is just a number. It’s not as massive as UFC Africa.”
UFC 300 – which is set to be the promotion’s biggest card of the year – takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13.
The historic card currently doesn’t have a main event finalised, although an announcement will likely be made in the coming weeks.
White recently told fans on Instagram Live” “I just gave you guys a 300 fight.
“When will you get the main event? You guys can’t even handle the main event.
“We’re working on a couple of different options. Trust me, the UFC 300 main event is going to be crazy.
“We have a couple of options for the main event.
“I’m still playing with it, I’m still playing with it. When it’s time, I will give it to you.”
