Israel Adesanya & Kamaru Usman Blast Dricus Du Plessis Over ‘First African UFC Champ’ Claim: ‘Colonial Mindset’

Former UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman recently sat down on Adesanya’s YouTube channel to address Dricus Du Plessis’ controversial claim of being the UFC’s “first real African champion.”

The discussion dissected Du Plessis’ remarks, which have sparked outrage among African-born fighters like Adesanya, Usman, and Francis Ngannou, all of whom won UFC titles before Du Plessis but trained outside the continent.

Watch the full interview here:

Usman didn’t hold back, questioning Du Plessis’ mindset: “When you come in and there are three African kings already. Why is your mentality not ‘Man, I want to be the 4th African champion’?”

Adesanya agreed with Kamaru’s criticism, saying, “It’s a colonial mindset. ‘I want to take it all for myself.’ He doubled down.”

While they disagree with Du Plessis’s opinion of them as Africans, they also made it clear that they believe him to be a decent person, despite believing he is ignorant.

“That’s the only thing that rubbed me the wrong way,” said Usman. “But I do think he’s a great guy, as far as all the run-ins that I’ve [had] with him. He’s cool.”

Adesanya also agreed that the criticism toward Du Plessis is not personal.

The former middleweight champion had positive interactions during training sessions with Du Plessis, recalling, “Even after I sparred him years ago in Thailand, cool dude. He and his brother as well, they’re chill.”

Adesanya continued to show the current champion respect, declaring, “We paved the way... even Dricus, credit to him, he’s paving the way right now. I’m glad he is a champion, because we still have an African champion.”

The UFC has yet to host an event in Africa, but the success of fighters like Adesanya, Usman, and Du Plessis has intensified calls for a historic pay-per-view on the continent. UFC executive David Shaw hinted at a potential 2025 event, though logistical challenges like time zones remain.

Du Plessis is still holding the middleweight belt, but with Adesanya eyeing a comeback, and Usman recently admitting he has future plans to move up to middleweight and challenge Du Plessis, their saga is far from over.