Israel Adesanya accused of making up Dricus Du Plessis sparring session story to save face - "I manhandled him"

The dust around the previous dissonance between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis is yet to settle, and another dispute has erupted between the two UFC middleweight fighters.

In an interview with The Schmo, Du Plessis contested UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya's claim that when they trained together in Thailand in 2014, he was outmatched by Adesanya in striking sessions:

“We trained in Thailand together. I think I was 19 years old at the time. He had quite a record in MMA already back then. I was 3-0, I think, when we trained together. You know, he said, yeah, I beat him in the grappling exchanges. He’s 100 percent correct in that.”

Du Plessis added:

"I did manhandle him in grappling and wrestling exchanges, but we did not do a single round of striking together, not one. I mean, that was his way of saving himself, saying,‘No, but I beat him in the striking.’ We never did striking together, not one round. When we sparred, we grappled and we wrestled. We never did one single round of striking together, not as far as I know, and that’s something you would remember.”

Catch the interview below:

The two fighters are yet to meet each other inside the octagon but already have a rivalry established after Du Plessis appeared to question Adesanya's African heritage. The duo has shot regular jibes at each other ever since.

'The Last Stylebender' has a plan for Robert Whittaker in case he wins, given his two successful outings against him in the past. He knocked out Whittaker in a title unification fight at UFC 243 and then registered a decision win over him at UFC 271 while retaining his title in a rematch.

But on the sidelines, he wishes Du Plessis would win at UFC 290 so that the two could finally fight each other at UFC 293 in Australia, where 'The Last Stylebender' will be making his return to the octagon:

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When Kamaru Usman responded to Dricus Du Plessis' shot at him and Israel Adesanya

The beef between current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis sparked after the South African made comments about the champion's African heritage.

Israel Adesanya wasn't the only fighter to take his statement negatively, with Kamaru Usman also expressing his displeasure over them. 'The Nigerian Nightmare', speaking to reporters before UFC 286 in London, advised Du Plessis to "choose his words carefully," as they won't age well in the future:

"Just because you went over to South Africa and you were raised there, that doesn't make you African."

Dricus Du Plessis appeared to question Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, and Francis Ngannou's African roots by calling them out for not bringing their titles to the continent and not living or training there.

It didn't go down very well with Adesanya and the former pound-for-pound number one fighter Usman, prompting sharp reactions from the Nigerian-born pair.