Apartheid Rears Its Ugly Head as a Race War Brews for the UFC Middleweight Championship Belt

Race and politics are topics best kept away from mainstream promotion.

Israel Adesanya (left) and Dricus Du Plessis (right) come face to face, at UFC 290.Photo byChris Malata / The Sun

But, the fight business is a whole 'nother ball game, so to speak. And, it seems as though all's fair in war and promotion.

Following his latest win, a number-one contender bout against ex-middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, at UFC 290, South Africa's Dricus Du Plessis (DDP) was met with glaring eyes (and choice words) from the steaming-hot Middleweight champion, African-born Israel Adesanya.

Tensions bubbled over as the two came face to face inside the octagon, during DDP's post-fight celebration. DDP became the unlikely next challenger to Israel's Middleweight belt, after stopping Robert Whittaker in the 2nd round.

A win Israel admittedly manifested.

On an episode of The MMA Hour, Israel shared,

"I'm going to manifest him winning this fight in the first round and when he does I'm going to be right there in the cage, so he can turn around in September... I will show him who the f*ck I am."

Although It took a little over 2 rounds for DDP to finish Robert, he became the first man to do so, not named Israel Adesanya, in nearly 10 years. And, just as Israel predicted, he was right there to show DDP he was not backing down from a fight.

Israel originally took umbrage with comments DDP made suggesting he was not a "real African champion", as Israel moved from Nigeria to New Zealand when he was young.

The exact comments were:

"Did those belts ever come to Africa? As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand... I'm the African fighter in the UFC... we [he and his teammate] wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we're African-born, we're African-raised, we still reside in Africa, we train out of Africa. That's an African champion. And that's who I'll be."

With a long history of racial tension in South Africa, stemming from racial segregation from 1948-1994, known as the Apartheid, many fans have begun accusing DDP of race-baiting -- although he's since clarified it was not his intention. Being proudly African-born, and suffering racial prejudice growing up, DDP's comments have undoubtedly lit a fire in Israel's belly. And, he has vowed to make him pay for each word.

Although this is not the type of publicity a promotion usually wants, drama sells. The UFC was originally targeting the fight UFC 293, but as DDP is reportedly injured, the fight will have to wait.

If all goes according to plan, Israel will defend his middleweight belt this fall, likely against Middleweight contender, Sean Strickland, and the UFC can put on an event that will surely be filled with a fiery leadup once DDP recovers.

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