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Israel Adesanya’s manager, Tim Simpson, has revealed that the former middleweight champion is disappointed not to be a part of the star-studded UFC 300 event on Saturday.
The UFC 300 event features a stacked lineup with a number of current and former champions, however, Adesanya, who has held the middleweight title twice, was not one of them.
Adesanya’s target was to challenge middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis, but du Plessis was unable to make the April 13 date after a five-round battle with Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January.
However, du Plessis said he pulled out of the fight because he hasn’t fully recovered from his injuries, to Adesanya’s disappointment.
“Israel was very upset that he didn’t do it”, Simpson said on The MMA Hour. “I believe Dricus was not ready. I think he had some sort of procedure after the last fight. Again, this is what’s been put publicly by Israel and Coach Eugene Bareman. But yeah, he really, really wanted it. “
“He was upset, he wanted to be here and do it. He loves big moments, the title fight coming back. I was texting (UFC Executive) Hunter (Campbell) and couldn’t get it done on Dricus’ side, but Izzy was ready to go.”
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