Demetrious Johnson warns Israel Adesanya away from Dricus du Plessis clash: ‘I don’t like that fight for him’
Former undisputed flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson has warned fellow ex-UFC champion, Israel Adesanya from a much-speculated title fight return against newly-minted gold holder, Dricus du Plessis later this year – questioning the stylistic matchup for the City Kickboxing staple.
Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight titleholder, has been sidelined since last September, most recently suffered a championship fight loss to Sean Strickland in a massive upset defeat at UFC 293 in Sydney.
And linked with a stunning comeback overnight, the official Kingdom Arena website listed ticket sales for a June 23. event in Saudi Arabia, appearing to leak a middleweight main event between Adesanya and unbeaten contender, Khamzat Chimaev.
However, amid fervor on social media, UFC boss, Dana White denied that the Nigerian-Kiwi striker was fighting Chimaev on that date in the Middle East, claiming the leak was a “fake post” on the arena’s website.
Israel Adesanya warned of return by Demetrious Johnson
Also tied to a championship grudge match with Pretoria native, du Plessis later this year, Adesanya should avoid a fight with the newly-minted gold holder according to the aforenoted, Johnson – unless he has made significant improvements to his clinch game and grappling arsenal.
“I don’t like that fight [with Dricus du Plessis] for Izzy (Israel Adesanya), because I feel Izzy hasn’t taken enough time,” Demetrious Johnson told MMA Fighting. My question to Izzy would be, ‘Izzy, have you talent he teim to add more tools to your toolset.’ Because, if I was looking at that fight right now, strategically, one of the things Izzy likes to do, he likes to back up. He likes to counter a punch. So, if he likes to counter a punch, DDP does a good job of not overextending.”
“He doesn’t back up,” Johnson explained. “He usually takes the center of the cage and he moves forward, and goes to the center and he goes either southpaw or orthodox.”
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