Dricus du Plessis has stunned Australian Rob Whittaker to set up a title shot at middleweight king Israel Adesanya in the main event at UFC 293 in Sydney.
And UFC fans got an early glimpse of what is to come as the pair faced off in a fiery clash after du Plessis had his hand raised.
Whittaker had won 14 of his last 16 fights heading into Sunday’s bout in Las Vegas, with those two losses coming to Adesanya, having otherwise cleared out contender after contender.
Du Plessis though proved he would be more than just another speedbump in Whittaker’s path back to the top of the division, making the biggest statement of his career.
It came against one of the South African’s heroes, with a classy du Plessis paying tribute to the role Whittaker played in inspiring his UFC rise early in his career.
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“To be honest as I dropped him he threw his own left hook – I went to duck under it and I didn’t even see it (Whittaker go down),” opened du Plessis.
He later praised Whittaker as a “true legend of the sport”.
Du Plessis has now won eight straight after scoring a second-round TKO win over Whittaker, who was rocked by a straight right hand before being finished off by a series of brutal shots.
Adesanya certainly took notice of the 29-year-old’s performance, steely-eyed as he later entered the octagon to face off with his next challenger.
Joe Rogan introduced the staredown by telling du Plessis. : “The man you will face next is standing to your right, the great Israel Adesanya.”
Du Plessis replied: “Yeah, I don’t know about great!”
Adesanya marched up and they butted heads, before the champ said: “This is my African brother right here. Let’s go n****r, what’s up b***h? Let’s go n****r. Yeah n****r. What’s up n****r. What the f*** you gonna do n****r?”
Du Plessis hit back: “Get this s**t out!”
Adesanya was undeterred, saying: “Yeah my African brother, yeah my African brother. What’s up n****r, yeah n****r”.
Du Plessis said: “I’m African but I ain’t no brother of yours.”
“You my n****r for real,” Adesanya said sarcastically, before continuing his race-themed tirade – though he mistakenly referenced a DNA testing brand called 23andMe, named after the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a human cell.
“I don’t need a DNA test, I don’t need a 36andMe to know where I’m from!
“If I do a 26andMe (sic), it’ll say I’m from Nigeria. You do 26andMe DNA Test and it’ll tell me where you’re from. I’ll show you where you’re from.”
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The first round was evenly contested until the very end, when du Plessis well and truly gained control with a successful takedown and some brutal work on the ground.
The South African landed a few damaging elbows to open up the Australian, who was left bleeding from the right side of his head.
“This is absolutely huge,” Daniel Cormier said in commentary.
Du Plessis carried that momentum into the second round, stunning Whittaker with a straight right hand that had the Australian wobbling.
The South African was quick to take full advantage, working to the body and then unleashing with a series of shots that had Whittaker down and out.
“Can you believe it?” Jon Anik said in commentary.
“This guy is a tank,” added Joe Rogan.
“He is a really dangerous guy. To do that against a guy like Whittaker is a real wake-up call for the rest of the division.”
It meant the Australian curse continued with Jimmy Crute and Shannon Ross also losing earlier in the card.