‘It works’… Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya laugh at the way Dricus du Plessis fights

From Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva to Demetrious Johnson and Henry Cejudo, UFC fans love it when former rivals bury the hatchet to become good friends.

This week, the MMA community has a new bromance to laugh about thanks to a fascinating collaboration between former UFC champions Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya.

Ahead of the Kiwi's return in February, the two former rivals sat down for a hilarious chat about one of their mutual enemies: current middleweight king, Dricus Du Plessis.

Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images

Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya make light of DDP defeats

Whittaker and Adesanya have been training together ahead of The Last Stylebender's upcoming fight against Nassourdine Imavov on February 1, 2025.

Just a week after that Fight Night event in Saudi Arabia, the promotion returns to Australia for UFC 312 – headlined by DDP versus Sean Strickland – with the two mutual opponents laughing about the way the Du Plessis fight.

“If I wanted to give anyone an edge, it would be Dricus in that fight,” Israel Adesanya said via the MMArcade Podcast.

“Even though Sean will definitely try to bring him back down, the only thing about Dricus is [that he’s] just so awkward.

'He was just throwing to stop me, I remember one was when I was sprawled on top of him and my head hit the mat, I tried to kick him [away] on the ground and I was like, 'Get up' – I came forward, and immediately he just went [flailing his arms].”

Adesanya revealed that Du Plessis's awkward style continually “stopping my momentum” and causing him to have to reset his striking stance at the end of every conversation – or as he put it…

“He's just a weird guy, he's the best fighter in the world, he's so good I can't even blame him for it.”

There's nothing to criticize about the South African's style “because it works”, noted Robert Whittaker, while the middleweights erupted in laughter as the Australian called Du Plessis a “c******” for beating them had defeated both.

'You know what I mean? “I remember when I fought him, for the first thirty seconds I was like, 'Dude, he's so slow,' but then I got punched in the face.”

Whittaker, Adesanya share early bust for UFC 312 title fight

Du Plessis rematches Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 312; and after a razor-thin decision in their first fight, Whittaker is eager to see what adjustments, if any, Strickland can make.

“People will argue with me and say it was controversial anyway, and I thought so too, but that was when he was still champion and he still lost a controversial match. [decision] to the challenger.

“I don't see Sean fighting any other way, that's how Sean fights and that's how Dricus fights – I don't know, maybe Dricus gets more takedowns because he had decent enough success with it, but honestly I just don't know. watch Sean do something different to get the win.

Adesanya seemed interested in revenge for his title loss to Strickland, though he was eager to acknowledge that with “Imavov in my sights, I didn't even look past this fight.

“I'm in a different place now in my career, like when I joined the UFC it was 'Fight as much as possible'… Now I feel like I can enjoy these fights and new bodies like Imavov, I'm I'm watching looking forward to this fight, man.”

Whittaker himself revealed that after his submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev, he “probably won't get back into fighting until June.”

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