White fighter Dricus du Plessis accuses Francis Ngannou and Israel Adesanya of being fake Africans
White fighter is branded a racist after accusing UFC superstars Francis Ngannou and Israel Adesanya of being fake Africans: ‘He’s trying to erase them from history’
South African MMA star Dricus du Plessis has questioned the authenticity of former African-born champions Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman in a shocking outburst.
Du Plessis, who racked up his seventh straight win last weekend with a knockout victory over Derek Brunson at UFC 285, is aiming for a middleweight title shot, and believes winning the belt would make him the first true champion. African.
‘Did those belts ever go to Africa? As far as I know, they made it to the United States and New Zealand. I’m going to take a belt to Africa,” he said of the titles won by the trio at a recent press day.
‘I am the African fighter in the UFC. Cameron and me [Saaiman, Du Plessis’ teammate]We breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day. We trained in Africa, we were born in Africa, we grew up in Africa. We still reside in Africa, we train outside of Africa. That is an African champion, and that is what I will be.
South African MMA star Dricus du Plessis plans to win a UFC belt soon and has questioned the authenticity of the three former African champions before him.
Du Plessis, who racked up his seventh straight victory over the weekend with a knockout victory over Derek Brunson at UFC 285, is targeting a middleweight title shot.
Du Plessis’s comments have upset some MMA fighters, including Nigerian-American featherweight Sodiq Yusuff.
Yusuff shared a video of Du Plessis, commenting that it was “like looking in a mirror”, prompting another Twitter user to accuse him of being racist.
“You are literally watching a video with a guy trying to erase Africans from history and replace them with himself. The mental gymnastics to call me a racist is hilarious,” Yusuff replied.
Former UFC fighter Mike Jackson also took issue with the South African’s comments.
‘The white fragility in this one. Super unnecessary,’ he commented in a video.
However, other fight fans think Du Plessis’s comments are reasonable.
I don’t understand what people don’t understand! You don’t have to be black to be African. He and Cameron are true Africans, more African than Usman and Izzy put together. They were raised there, reside there and even train there,’ said one Twitter user.
‘Africa is a place, if you are born there you are African,’ commented another.
Du Plessis’s comments have upset some MMA fighters, including Nigerian-American featherweight Sodiq Yusuff (Ngannou and Adesanya pictured posing with belts).
However, many fight fans think Du Plessis’ comments are reasonable and have shown their support online (African-born former champions Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman pictured together in 2022).
“It’s funny how a white African can’t be an African because he’s white, but that’s exactly the logic racists use about blacks in Europe,” said a third.
Du Plessis’ win over No. 5-ranked Brunson is the biggest win of his career and will move him into the top 10 and into title contention.
The middleweight contender told reporters after his recent victory that a title shot is not far away and that his results in the Octagon speak for themselves.
“He’s absolutely incredible coming from a team in South Africa and with a style that people are like, ‘Hey, he’s not really good,'” Du Plessis said.
‘Well, I’m number 5. I just beat the number 5 in the world. So yeah, I’m that good. My team, that’s how good we are. That’s what this means to me.
‘It’s not about winning or being in the top five. We are not celebrating that. But what we’re celebrating is that we’re that good.’