Ahead of the historic card on April 13, UFC officials were scrambling to find the biggest possible fight to headline the card and Israel Adesanya says he got the call for a showdown against reigning middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.
The long rumored fight was plotted as the main event for UFC 300 but Adesanya claims that du Plessis and his team ultimately declined.
“There’s some things that were meant to happen,” Adesanya said on Theo Von’s podcast. “They summoned me, I’m sure this is out there now … but they summoned me for [UFC] 300 and I was like ‘yep, let’s roll.’ But their side didn’t want it. They didn’t want it.
“They just fought [Sean] Strickland so maybe he had a little bit of niggly injuries and stuff but we’ve all got niggles and what not.”
As Adesanya noted, the bad timing for the fight likely came down to the damage that du Plessis absorbed during a grueling five-round war with Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January. The quick turnaround probably made it tough for du Plessis to then return in April.
It’s a similar circumstance that actually prevented du Plessis from getting his first title shot after he knocked out former champion Robert Whittaker this past July but dealt with a foot injury that prevented him from facing Adesanya two months later. Strickland ended up taking his place and pulled off the massive upset to beat Adesanya and become champion.
Adesanya noted that he’s also faced injuries throughout his career but always showed up to fight.
“I’ve fought injured for the last how many fights, that’s why I took time off just to let my body heal,” Adesanya said. “It has healed and I’m sure there will be more injuries, it just happens through training. Like what we do for work, it’s constantly something.”
As far as what comes next, Adesanya still appears to be the top choice to face du Plessis in his first title defense with both fighters pushing for a showdown in Africa.
It remains to be seen if that location will get booked but for now Adesanya and du Plessis will stay on a collision course for a different date rather than clash at UFC 300.
Amid recent claims from City Kickboxing teammate, Dan Hooker regarding his planned involvement in a monstrous UFC 300 card later this year, former middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya has claimed arch-rival, Dricus du Plessis and his team rejected an offer to fight him on the pay-per-view card in April.
Adesanya, a former two-time titleholder at the middleweight limit, has been sidelined since he headlined UFC 293 back in September of last year, where he dropped the championship in a shocking upset defeat to Sean Strickland.
The defeat came as Adesanya’s second in his three most recent Octagon walks, while he also set an unwanted record as the first fighter in the promotion’s history to lose a championship twice in the space of a calendar year.
And linked with a championship return against Pretoria native, du Plessis ever since the South African’s ascension to the throne at UFC 297 back in January, Nigerian-Kiwi striker, Adesanya had been linked with a headlining bout atop UFC 300 in April against the newly-minted gold holder.
However, earlier this month, UFC CEO, Dana White confirmed how light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira – an arch-foe of Adesanya would be headlining the monumental card in a title fight against former gold holder, Jamahal Hill.
Israel Adesanya claims he was set to headline UFC 300
As far as Adesanya is concerned, however, initial plans were set for him to fight du Plessis in the main event of UFC 300, until the latter’s team rejected the bout, according to the former.
“There’s some things that were meant to happen,” Israel Adesanya told Theo Von during a recent interview. “They [the UFC] summoned me – they summoned me – I’m sure this is out there, and Eugene (Bareman) said some stuff. But they summoned me, they summoned me for [UFC] 300. And I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s roll’. But, their side didn’t want it.”
“So I was like, ‘Well, f*ck it, I’m just going to keep’ – yeah, they didn’t want it,” Israel Adesanya explained. “They just fought (Sean) Strickland, so, maybe he [Dricus du Plessis[ had a little niggling injury and stuff. But, hey, we all got niggles and whatnot. But 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, and I’m sure there’ll be more injuries – it just happens when you’re training, when you do what we’re doing.
Do you think Israel Adesanya fights Dricus du Plessis this year?
UFC 300 was hyped by Dana White so much that fans were expecting a card like we’ve never seen before. While the event is packed with great matchups, we almost had an entirely different headliner.
On April 13, UFC 300 unfolds at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. After months of speculation, it was recently revealed that the grudge match between light heavyweight powerhouses Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill would take center stage at the night’s end.
Before the main event was revealed, many expected Israel Adesanya to return to combat sports following his short hiatus. Although that is no longer the case, according to the kickboxing phenom, his potential opponent Dricus Du Plessis stopped that from happening.
“There were some things that were meant to happen,” Adesanya said about a title fight against Du Plessis during an appearance on Theo Von’s podcast. “They summoned me. They summoned me.”
“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.”
Related: Is Israel Adesanya vs. Khamzat Chimaev confirmed for UFC Saudi Arabia?
Adesanya continued, hinting at a possible return to the octagon now that his injury issues are behind him.
“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.”
‘The Last Stylebender’ most recently competed inside the octagon on September 9, 2023, at UFC 293, in a losing effort against Sean Strickland.
Israel Adesanya planned to spend a considerable amount of time away from the sport. However, rumors of a middleweight title fight against long-term rival Dricus Du Plessis are beginning to heat up.
Listen to Adesanya and Theo Von’s 2-hour talk below.
The Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia press conference video will feature two of boxing’s best ahead of their April 20 showdown at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Haney, who is 31-0, will put his WBC lightweight title on the line against Garcia, who is 24-1, in the pay-per-view matchup.
The Haney vs. Garcia press conference is expected to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Alexander Volkanovski hadn’t experienced a knockout loss since very early in his career, but that changed once he was floored in back-to-back fights against Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria.
The first knockout came via head kick when Volkanovski accepted a short-notice opportunity to face Makhachev this past October. Four months later, Volkanovski suffered a similar fate when Topuria blasted him with punches to put him down with a second-round knockout that cost him the UFC featherweight title.
In the wake of those losses, concerns have been raised that perhaps Volkanovski returned too soon after the first knockout loss, and that played at least some part in his second straight defeat. Anything is possible, but UFC legend Matt Brown says there’s no definitive way to just point the finger at the time off between fights and blame that as the culprit behind Volkanovski’s knockout losses.
“I think it’s very independent, very specific to each person,” Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I don’t think you can make a broad statement saying that is the problem. Because it’s more mental than it is physical in my opinion. I’ve had concussions before and I’ve been knocked out once.
“When I got knocked out, I came back and I was fine. But when I got concussed in a fight, I didn’t get knocked out but I was concussed, I was having serious problems for weeks after, maybe months after. There was serious problems. Vertigo, falling over, slurred speech. I would be speaking and just stop and not know what I was talking about. Crazy things like that.”
Brown has only suffered one real knockout during his career — a 2016 loss to Donald Cerrone when he was hit with a head kick in the third round. Meanwhile, Brown revealed that his concussion actually came during a fight with ex-UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, in a 2015 fight where he was largely just out-wrestled for three rounds.
It was during one of the takedowns that Brown’s head hit the canvas, and it left him dazed and confused in the fight. Afterward, he was diagnosed with a concussion, and that freak occurrence led to far more physical problems than anything he faced from the knockout in his Cerrone fight.
“I got knocked out once and that was by ‘Cowboy’ [Donald Cerrone], and I came back with no problem,” Brown explained. “But mentally, it was harder to come back from the knockout. That’s why I say I don’t know if you can necessarily make that broad statement, because if [Volkanovski] was mentally OK with it, then I don’t think it probably played a role. That hurts. You got f****** knocked out in front of millions of people, you had all these expectations in your head and then you get knocked out. That can play a mental role in your training. Maybe you’re questioning yourself a little bit, maybe you’re a little bit safer.
“When I got concussed, coming back from that wasn’t that hard. I had to do the recovery. It was hard dealing with the fact that I got concussed and there’s a strong possibility that I haven’t been the same since. Just because we believe that we’re recovered, there’s a chance that there are underlying effects that are causing problems, potentially for the rest of your life that you don’t even know about.”
For all the science available on concussions, there are still a lot of unknowns related to brain trauma, and there’s no exact right or wrong way to recover from it.
Brown says in his case, he worked with doctors near his home in Ohio and they recommended one kind of treatment, and then he was offered a completely different alternative when dealing with a separate group of physicians in Colorado.
When he finally started feeling like himself again, Brown had no issues getting back in the gym and preparing for another fight, but he faced a different kind of struggle after his knockout loss.
“When I got concussed, I was able to come back from that mentally easily,” Brown said. “When I got knocked out, that was a mental hurdle to come back from. I had never been knocked out before and Cowboy’s ass happened to f****** knock me out in a really brutal, vicious manner.
“I see that highlight every now and then and I’m like, it looks f****** bad. That mental hurdle, that’s maybe a small little thing that’s a part of it.”
As far as Volkanovski’s future, he’s once again facing calls for an extended break before his next bout, but Brown knows that just sitting out for six months or even a year won’t necessarily solve the problem.
Physically, Volkanovski may get cleared much sooner, but Brown can’t say how long it may take him to move past the turmoil in his own head after suffering two knockouts in a row.
Brown knows from his own personal experience what he did to get past the knockout loss, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all cure for anybody in the same situation.
“I could tell you my personal way I got over it,” Brown said. “The way that I looked at fighting was a little bit different, and I started going this way a little bit before but that [knockout loss] really set it in stone. I stopped looking at each performance as the end of the world. Each performance was, that’s all that f******* matters. And the way I look at it myself now, I’m a martial artist for life and I’m going to be on the mats until the day that I die. This is what I do. The fight itself is a test of my martial arts on that day.
“I started looking at it afterward, if I fought him 10 minutes before that, an hour before that, the day before, whatever, maybe I would have knocked him out. All the fight is, a picture in time, whereas I’m a martial artist for life. This is just a picture in time where my martial art was that day. Sort of what Bruce Lee used to talk about, there’s no defeat until you accept defeat. It’s just a moment in time.”
There’s no telling how long it will take for Volkanovski to get mentally and physically ready to fight again.
That’s why Brown won’t try to advise him to take a certain amount of time off, because there’s just no way to know for certain what will work for Volkanovski.
“To give advice to someone else, I think you need to know their own personal journey and the way their mind works and what makes them tick,” Brown said. “Why are they doing this to start with? What’s their motivation? What’s their goal? For some people, that goal is money — like Floyd Mayweather, his goal was money and he did it. For Conor [McGregor], it was probably money.
“For others like Jim Miller, I think he’s a martial artist. He’s not in there specifically for money. The point is there’s a lot of different personalities and you’ve got to understand who they are, what makes them tick, and things like that.”
Listen to new episodes of The Fighter vs. The Writer every Tuesday with audio only versions of the podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio
The common goal among most up-and-coming regional (or international) mixed martial arts (MMA) prospects is to one day compete for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Other major promotions such as Bellator MMA, Professional Fighter’s Leagues, and ONE Championship are not far behind. Literally, countless prospects across the globe are all working toward the same career goal, making it difficult to stand out in the sea of competition. As often as possible, MMAmania.com will highlight a different combat sports prospect to keep your eyes on.
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A post shared by Jacobe Smith (@cobe1423)
Jacobe Smith
Age: 28
Height: 6’2”
Weight class: Welterweight
Record: 8-0
Gym: Fortis MMA
High-level college wrestlers moving over to MMA after their wrestling career is over isn’t a new thing – look at Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, Ben Askren, and Bo Nickal. However, at the rate that MMA is continuing to grow, more and more college wrestlers are going to look to MMA rather than the Olympics or WWE.
Jacobe Smith is going to be the next former college wrestler to make a big impact in MMA. Smith wrestled at Oklahoma State where he had a very good career that was plagued by injuries. Once he was done with college, he started training at America Kickboxing Academy – with fellow Oklahoma State alumni Daniel Cormier. He quickly earned a 3-0 record with three first-round knockouts.
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A post shared by Jacobe Smith (@cobe1423)
Smith would sign with Texas-based regional promotion Fury Fighting Championship (Fury FC) after his third win. After another first-round knockout and a hard-fought unanimous decision win, it was time for a change – he switched gyms from AKA to Fortis MMA, under the watch of Sayif Saud in Dallas, TX. And since that move, he has taken a big step forward in his young career.
Smith is currently haunting the Welterweight division in Fury FC, running through whoever the matchmakers give him. Last week at Fury FC 86 (Fri., Feb. 23, 2024), he knocked out Jared McLoughlin in 18 seconds and went viral for his wacky celebration.
Y’all want the entire Jacobe Smith Fury FC fight??? We’ll give it to ya cuz ya might not ever see another. WOW!!#FuryFC86 pic.twitter.com/g3hRybPc3H
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 24, 2024
Jacobe Smith celebrates after knocking out Jared McLoughlin #FuryFC86 pic.twitter.com/UKUh7W2DAa
— Christopher De Santiago (@Chris_DSantiago) February 24, 2024
At 8-0, with six knockouts and not really showing a chink in his armor – it’s only a matter of time before the UFC picks him up. But if I were to guess, he is going to headline an episode of Dana White’s Contender Series this year.
Nevertheless, get used to hearing his name because the more he develops, the more he will dominate the sport of MMA.
Check out some more highlights!
Jacobe Smith is looking to keep his undefeated streak alive this weekend. • 7-0 • 5 KO/TKO • 5 First Round Finishes #FuryFC86 pic.twitter.com/HTsWYpfWUH
— COMBAT SPORTS TODAY (@CSTodayNews) February 20, 2024
Jacobe Smith absolutely mauled Tommie Briton (Round 1, 3:06)pic.twitter.com/545UtD4JMi
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