Before the main event for UFC 300 was announced, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani had reported that the Dana White-led promotion was scrapping to put together a headliner for the tricentenary PPV card on April 13, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and was considering among other bouts, Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title as the main event.

And as it turns out, the veteran MMA journalist was right, as Israel Adesanya has confirmed it in his latest appearance on comedian Theo Von’s ‘This Past Weekend’ podcast. ‘Izzy’ claimed that Dana White and the UFC wanted their overdue grudge match at the top of UFC 300, but the South African champion rejected it.

The UFC, of course, eventually went with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill, who vacated the title last year due to an injury, to headline the anniversary card. And while ‘Izzy’ would certainly be disappointed, he didn’t seem too mad or called out Du Plessis for his refusal to fight at UFC 300.

During his podcast with Von, Izzy revealed that he immediately agreed to fight ‘Stillknocks’, but the South African’s camp turned it down, possibly due to injuries he would have sustained during his UFC 297 five-round war with Sean Strickland, whom he defeated to become champion.

Adesanya thinks injuries led ‘DDP’ to turn down UFC 300

Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis were involved in a feud last year, when the Kiwi was still champion, after ‘DDP’ made comments ‘Izzy’ saw as questioning his African identity, reaching its climax at a heated, expletive-ridden, and bizarre UFC 291 face-off. Du Plessis was offered a shot at the title (Adesanya was champion then) but turned it down as he was recovering from an injury. And ‘Izzy’ thinks the South African rejected a UFC 300 booking because of very similar reasons.

“I’m sure this is out there now. Eugene [Bareman] said some stuff. But, they summoned me. They summoned me for [UFC] 300 and I was like, ‘Yep, let’s roll.’ But their [Du Plessis] side didn’t want it. Yeah, they didn’t want it. But, you know, they just fought [Sean] Strickland. So, maybe he had a little bit [of] niggly injuries and stuff,” he said.

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Adesanya also shed some light on his hiatus (he took a break from fighting after shockingly losing his title to Strickland at UFC 293 clash) and revealed that the numerous minor injuries that he had been carrying were healed, indicating that he will be back in action again. “Hey, we’ve all got niggles and whatnot. I’ve fought injured for the last how many fights? So, that’s why I took time off. Just to let my body heal. And it has healed,” Adesanya added.

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