Former two-time UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has admitted that he was overpowered by the current champion, Dricus Du Plessis, during their title fight at UFC 305 in Perth on Sunday, August 18.
Adesanya, who had control of the fight until the last round when he was bombarded with a barrage of punches, fell into the trap of Du Plessis, who held his neck tightly, forcing him to tap out.
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Speaking at the post-fight press conference, Adesanya, as reported by MMAFighting, recounted his experience during the bout, crediting the South African’s fighting prowess.
“For me, I have to watch it again because I don’t think I was rocked,” Adesanya said.
“I think I slipped, and I was like, ‘What the f*ck was that?’ Then he was trying to catch me as I was exiting. I can’t remember how he took me down because everything in me is always a blur. It’s still fresh; it just happened 20 or 30 minutes ago.
“I tried to fight the top hand, and I don’t know what mistake I made because I tried to turn into him, but then he got on my back. Was I using the fence, maybe? He switched to a Gable grip, and then I wasn’t able to separate the hands like I wanted to. I have to watch it properly to really see what happened, but I felt great. He didn’t really surprise me because I knew he was tough.”
