UFC 305 will not be the very first time that Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis have actually concerned blows, with the 2 having in fact sparred together back in 2014; years before either among them was signed to the MMA promo.
Now, over a years later on, the set of super stars are lastly set to brawl it out under the intense lights of the UFC, albeit this time with world champion splendor on the line. What did both fighters, plus CKB coach Eugene Bareman, have to state on their now notorious training session?
Image by Will Russell/Zuffa LLCIsrael Adesanya remembers sparring Dricus Du Plessis in 2014
The year is 2014, and Israel Adesanya's recently established battle sports profession is flip-flopping in between Muay Thai and Kickboxing, with the New Zealander having just 2 expert MMA battles under his belt.
As he and a couple of other members of the City Kickboxing Team train together in Phuket, Thailand, Adesanya would end up standing throughout the training space from a young Dricus Du Plessis, who was himself making his method through the EFC Africa series.
On an episode of Impaulsive, Adesanya would remember how that very first sparring session went, keeping in mind that whilst the young South African did have a significant benefit in the grappling, it was delegated ‘Stylebender' to teach him a lesson on the feet.
“This little space in Thailand, before they had a huge open area, they had this little space where everybody trained at and they had me, Brad Riddell, Alexander Volkanovski, Kai [Kara-France] … And Dricus is right there … I remember this, we in fact sparred.
“I'm originating from China, I was doing kickboxing over there– I had no MMA, absolutely nothing, I indicate I had MMA, however it wasn't sharp, it was blunt.
“So, when we're sparring, I do not understand if we did 2 rounds or one, this is so long back, 2014, I keep in mind on the grappling he had me, however on the striking I messed him up.”
Previously this year, video of the 2 training together would be shared online and whilst it's not a video of the set in fact sparring, it is interesting to see what ‘Stylebender' referred to as the origin of their now-intense competition.
- EXCLUSIVE: Adesanya exposes where his fight with Du Plessis ranks amongst the best competitions of his profession
“This arc in my story was composed long earlier,” he captioned the video on X, including: “Our courses are predestined to cross once again. Stay tuned for the next episode, thanks for seeing. We Write History.”
Now that we've heard one side of the story, what did Dricus Du Plessis need to state about sparring Adesanya?
✨ IS ~ RA ~ EL ADÉSÀNYÀ
This arc in my story was composed long back. Our courses are predestined to cross once again. Stay tuned for the next episode, thanks for viewing.
We Write History ✨ ✍ pic.twitter.com/c5EHGWBjlL
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) January 21, » …
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