Dricus du Plessis is the new UFC middleweight champion and his first order of business is calling out former longtime champion Israel Adesanya.
Before the fight du Plessis was insistent that Adesanya was not on his mind, only Sean Strickland was.
“My focus is winning the title. That’s all that matters," he said at the UFC 297 pre-fight media day. “Obviously after that performance, Izzy getting in the cage, it got my heart but burning.
"It's disappointing when you can't fight who you want to fight. I'm a fighter and I wanted to fight him. But right now, it makes no difference. He’s not my focus, the title is.”
But now that Strickland is behind him, it's all eyes forward on Adesanya.
“Israel Adesanya, get your a back in the UFC so we can settle the score,” Du Plessis said after his win.
Unfortunately, we just don't really know what the status of Adesanya is right now. We know he wanted to take an extended break but it's unclear how long he plans to be out.
He has yet to respond to the callout.