Israel Adesanya has not been shy about who he wants to fight when he returns to the UFC octagon.
Now, the UFC middleweight champion will get his wish.
South African Dricus du Plessis will likely be the man to challenge for Adesanya’s title after knocking Robert Whittaker out in the second round of their bout at UFC 290 in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Adesanya was on hand at the event, and stepped into the cage to face off against du Plessis following his win.
Adesanya’s desire to fight du Plessis is two-fold: it would be an opponent he is yet to fight, and du Plessis’ comments about Nigerian-born Adesanya not being a true African champion because he lives in New Zealand did not go down well with The Last Stylebender.
It capped off an hour of excitement for Kiwi fans after lightweight Dan Hooker silenced his critics.
In his bout against Jalin Turner, it was yet another tale of the Kiwi lightweight taking on a rising contender in the division. But as he did against Claudio Puelles last November, Hooker proved his standing as one of the best in the world.
Hooker claimed a decision win over Turner, putting together his first winning streak since 2020.
In a bout between two athletes known for their ability to get the job done with plenty of time to spare, this one seemed destined to followed that script. The pair were scheduled to fight earlier in the year, however Hooker suffered a broken hand and was forced to withdraw from the initial booking. But it was a stylistic match-up the Kiwi was intrigued by and Turner, who came into the bout with four of his six UFC wins being against fighters from Oceania, willingly obliged.
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Hooker was smart in his approach early, attacking the legs and trying to score points with front kicks against the longer fighter. Turner, whose power has been on show throughout his UFC tenure, looked for more meaningful shots and worked kicks to Hooker’s body.
It was a fairly even first stanza, though Turner seemed to have edged it as the fighters opened up later in the round.
The second picked up where the first ended. Both fighters were having success in the striking exchanges, but a beautifully-executed head kick from Turner looked to have changed the complexion of the bout.
It didn’t. Hooker did well to clinch immediately and had enough time to get his wits about him before they were back at range.
Instead, it was Hooker who took over as the round went on. Turner, who came into the bout having missed weight by 2lbs (about 1kg), began to slow down and Hooker landed some clean shots that put the American in all sorts of trouble.
It was a round for Hooker, and both men came out swinging to open what seemed like it would be a fight-deciding third round.
Again it was the Kiwi who gained the ascendancy in his striking, forcing Turner into a desperate attempt to take the fight to the mat.
Most of the round played out on the canvas with Hooker in top position but Turner did a good job to land impactful elbows from the bottom, but Hooker was in control.
In the end, a close fight proved to be exactly that as the judges were split; two of the three scoring it for Hooker to give the Kiwi his second straight win.
The win will likely see Hooker jump up at least one place in the rankings and looking at a top-10 opponent in his next bout.
