UFC 305 won’t be the first time that Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis have come to blows, with the two having actually sparred together back in 2014; years before either one of them was signed to the MMA promotion.
Now, over a decade later, the pair of superstars are finally set to brawl it out under the bright lights of the UFC, albeit this time with world championship glory on the line. So, what did both fighters, plus CKB coach Eugene Bareman, have to say on their now infamous training session?
Israel Adesanya recalls sparring Dricus Du Plessis in 2014
The year is 2014, and Israel Adesanya’s fledgling combat sports career is flip-flopping between Muay Thai and Kickboxing, with the New Zealander having only two professional MMA fights under his belt.
Yet as he and a few other members of the City Kickboxing Team train together in Phuket, Thailand, Adesanya would end up standing across the training room from a young Dricus Du Plessis, who was himself making his way through the EFC Africa series.
On an episode of Impaulsive, Adesanya would recall how that first sparring session went, noting that whilst the young South African did have a major advantage in the grappling, it was left to ‘Stylebender’ to teach him a lesson on the feet.
“This little room in Thailand, before they had a big open space, they had this little room where everyone trained at and they had me, Brad Riddell, Alexander Volkanovski, Kai [Kara-France] … And Dricus is right there… I remember this, we actually sparred.
“I’m coming from China, I was doing kickboxing over there – I had no MMA, nothing, I mean I had MMA, but it wasn’t sharp, it was blunt.
“So, when we’re sparring, I don’t know if we did two rounds or one, this is so long ago, 2014, I remember on the grappling he had me, but on the striking I messed him up.”
Earlier this year, footage of the two training together would be shared online and whilst it’s not a video of the pair actually sparring, it is fascinating to see what ‘Stylebender’ described as the origin of their now-intense rivalry.
- EXCLUSIVE: Adesanya reveals where his feud with Du Plessis ranks among the greatest rivalries of his career
“This arc in my story was written long ago,” he captioned the video clip on X, adding: “Our paths are destined to cross again. Stay tuned for the next episode, thanks for watching. We Write History.”
Now that we’ve heard one side of the story, what did Dricus Du Plessis have to say about sparring Adesanya?
✨IS~RA~EL 🐉 ADÉSÀNYÀ‼️
This arc in my story was written long ago. Our paths are destined to cross again. Stay tuned for the next episode, thanks for watching.
We Write History ✨✍🏾 pic.twitter.com/c5EHGWBjlL— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) January 21, 2024
Dricus Du Plessis claimed he ‘man-handled’ Israel Adesanya in sparring
Speaking to The Schmo, Du Plessis would explain his side of the story regarding the now-infamous sparring session between the two, noting first how this all went down when he was just a spry 19-year-old.
“Yeah, we trained in Thailand together, I think I was 19 years old at the time and he had quite a record in MMA already [whereas] I was 3-0. But he said that I beat him in the grappling exchanges – he’s 100% correct in that.
“I did man-handle him in the grappling and wrestling exchanges, but we did not do a single round of striking together, not one.”
The South African brawler claimed that Adesanya saying that they also followed up with a round of striking is “his way of saving himself” from revealing the truth of the sparring session.
“Not one round of striking – when we sparred, we grappled and we wrestled, we never did one single round of striking together.”
Coach Eugene Bareman on what he saw that day in 2014
Interestingly, Adesanya wasn’t the only member of the CKB team to have sparred Dricus Du Plessis that day, with coach Eugene Bareman also putting in a few rounds with the South African.
Speaking this week to Submission Radio, the veteran coach refused to elaborate on how the sparring went but praised the Du Plessis’ team for the respect they’ve shown him since.
“Look, they’re a very nice team, nice blokes and I can’t speak for Israel, obviously he’s got his history [with Dricus] that’s a little bit different to my history, but they’ve come up to me already [this week] and said ‘Hey coach, how are you? Good to see you again, it’s been so long’.
“Who would have known after all these years after sparring in that little room in Phuket that we would all be in this position’ – I just said, ‘Yeah it’s amazing’ and I wish them all the best… It’s a good story I guess but from my experience back then and now, they’re good people.”
Israel Adesanya vs Dricus Du Plessis headlines UFC 305, scheduled to go down live from the RAC Arena in Perth on Saturday, August 17.
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