Israel Adesanya is not seeking revenge after defeat to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305: “I’m not really desperate”

Israel Adesanya does not necessarily want to win back Dricus du Plessis

Israel Adesanya made it clear in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier that he has no plans to retire from combat sports for the time being. At the post-fight press conference, “Izzy” revealed to media representatives that revenge is not his main focus (h/t MMAJunkie.com).

“I'm not really desperate to get it back,” Adesanya said. “He gave me a lot of respect back then and I gave him his respect back. I already knew he was a fan of mine. I already knew he was a fan of mine. But yeah, now I'm a fan of his. We were in there and we did it. When I'm in South Africa, I'll get in touch with him. I said, 'Look, we can hang out. But if we have to fight again, I'm going to kill you.' He says, 'I'm going to kill you too.' The respect is always there. Dricus is an African champion. But 'The Magi' will reign unchallenged. That era was what sparked that for guys like him. He's going to inspire another generation of African fighters as well. So congratulations to him tonight — until we meet again.”

Adesanya gets a chance to rest after a hard-fought title shot. Despite losing two fights in a row to Sean Strickland and now du Plessis, Adesanya remains in the top tier of the middleweight division and could very well be just one win away from another championship shot.