UFC champ says win over Israel Adesanya puts him in GOAT conversation

In a recent interview with Fox West Texas, du Plessis stated he believes a win over Adesanya later this summer will catapult him to the top of the list of greatest middleweights of all time.

“I’ve always looked at Israel Adesanya as the benchmark,” du Plessis said. “… I’ve looked at him and always knew this is where I need to be if I ever want to be the best in the world. This is the benchmark. He is one of the greatest to ever do it, and this fight for me is going to put me in that position. This is where I take over as one of the greatest to ever do it. This is where my years of building and climbing that ladder is going to a point where I am now the guy that’s one of the greatest to ever do it.”

Adesanya himself was in a similar boat not that long ago.

Back when he was an ascending undefeated prospect in 2019, Adesanya fought who many considered (and some still do) the middleweight GOAT, Anderson Silva (34-11-1). It was only Adesanya’s fifth fight in the UFC, but it was one that made him a star.

Du Plessis’ rise to fame took a similar trajectory as he won his first seven UFC fights, knocking off Robert Whittaker (26-7) and the man who beat Adesanya for the middleweight championship last September, Sean Strickland (29-6).

Now, du Plessis and Adesanya will finally settle their yearslong dispute over who really is the best in the division.

“I’m fighting against arguably one of the greatest middleweights ever, and I have to go out there and prove that I am that guy,” du Plessis added. “That’s what this fight is going to mean to me. It’s going to mean I told you I belong here. This fight is going to mean that Dricus du Plessis is now in the conversation of being one of the greatest middleweights ever.”