Dricus du Plessis to Israel Adesanya: ‘I’m glad you took up golf because that’s your retirement sport’

Israel Adesanya added a new hobby during his break from competition, and middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis believes that after UFC 305, it will be something his rival will be doing a lot more of in the future.

Du Plessis and Adesanya shared the stage during Tuesday’s UFC 305 on-sale press conference in Perth, Australia, ahead of their championship headliner on Aug. 17 at RAC Arena.

Adesanya, a two-time middleweight champion, returns to action for the first time since losing the title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 this past September. In his time off, “The Last Stylebender” said he took up golf, and while things were surprisingly tame between he and du Plessis, there was one heated moment between the two.

“For me, there’s no tension from me,” du Plessis said. “I get into the octagon and I do my job, I do my business. You can be the biggest asshole in the world, you can be the nicest guy in the world, I’m going out there to kill you — and I hope you’re doing the same to me, because otherwise, it’s not going to be a good night for you.

“And as far as discrediting, I’ve never discredited anybody. [I’m] stating facts. Where do I reside? What’s my postal code? Where do I train, where do I live? Where was I born? In South Africa. Still there, still training, and I won this belt from South Africa. I didn’t travel anywhere else. That was the only thing that I stated. So, never discredited anybody, and quite frankly, I don’t really care about how it rubbed him the wrong way. I don’t care.”

“I don’t really give a f*ck where he’s from, but I’ll show him who he is,” Adesanya responded.

“Whatever that means,” du Plessis said to Adesanya. “I’m glad you took up golf because that’s your retirement sport. I can understand you starting playing golf.”

Du Plessis is set to make his first title defense after earning a split decision win over Strickland at UFC 297 in January.