As is customary, the UFC held a news conference on the day tickets went on sale for UFC 305 in Perth, Australia. On the morning of July 2, when the news conference ended, the fighters were posed for photos.
More traditional, usually boring and mundane, stuff.
Not on this day, at least not when the main event combatants made their way to the middle of the stage. Middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis, his belt in tow, strode to the center of the stage, his eyes locked ahead. From the other same in a brisk, determined walked came the former champion, Israel Adesanya, his eyes not breaking with his rival's.
They got less than a foot away from each other and they stared into each other's eyes. And they stared. And stared. And stared. And stared.
For more than 90 seconds, they didn't break their gazes, staring intently into each other's eyes. Even when UFC vice president Peter Kloczko physically got between them and then had them turn their bodies toward the audience, they continued the staredown.
It was as intense a moment as there has been in a while.
Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya faceoff at the UFC 305 On-Sale Press Conference#UFC305 #MMA pic.twitter.com/J3nkblBKxu
— Main Card Minute (@MainCardMinute) July 3, 2024
"That wasn't planned at all," du Plessis said. "There's no way you can plan these things. When you have two guys who are going to go out there and kill each other, when you have them face-to-face, at least in my mind and how I look at this, when you look into your opponent's eyes it's something that is almost a fight before the fight. It's always intense. I think that staredown was a perfect, perfect showcase and almost a perfect ... you can see exactly what intensity is going to come to this fight."
These are the best fighters in the world, and there is no way that standing there staring at one another is going to have an impact upon the performance. It's not like one or the other will be intimidated. They're both experienced and have done this so many times.
And yet, du Plessis insists he wasn't playing. This wasn't an attempt to sell tickets or pay-per-views. He wasn't looking to promote the fight like he's doing when he makes most of his public appearances or when he does interviews.
"I have to be honest with you: Once I stand up there facing my opponent, selling is not at the top of my list," du Plessis said. "It's all about being gritty and showing my opponent that he's going to have to deal with me come fight night. It's having him feeling my energy and understand he's going to have to deal with this come fight night."
Du Plessis and Adesanya have a natural rivalry because both are elite fighters in the same division and there can only be one champion. But both were born in Africa and that has fueled the rivalry, too. Du Plessis was born and still resides in South Africa. Adesanya was born in Nigeria but has lived in many places around the world and currently lives in New Zealand.
On several occasions, du Plessis said he felt like "the real African," because he still lives on the continent and has never left. It was a shot at Adesanya and the former champion, who is extraordinarily proud of his heritage, didn't take kindly to hearing it.
It hit its zenith following du Plessis' win over Robert Whittaker last year at UFC 290 in Las Vegas when Adesanya entered the Octagon and he and du Plessis went nose-to-nose. At the press conference following the event that night, the first question asked of UFC CEO/president Dana White was if the bout had racial overtones. In the Octagon, Adesanya had asked du Plessis to do a "36 and me" DNA test to "show me where you're from."
That started the unpleasantness that will end on Saturday (Sunday, Aug. 18 in Australia).
Du Plessis didn't want to be blamed in any way for injecting race into the event.
"I honestly do not think that that question [which opened the UFC 290 news conference] came from the fact that I talked about being the African fighter," du Plessis said. "I think those comments, and they were very just, came from after the staredown and what [Adesanya] screamed into the mic. I think that's where that came from, and those were the racial overtones. It had absolutely nothing to do with my comments."
Whatever, they'll settle their differences with the middleweight championship at stake on Saturday. It figures to be a fast-paced, high-action affair, as both are strikers who are hard hitters and accurate punchers.
The winner, White said on Tuesday in remarks following the Contender Series in Las Vegas, will get Sean Strickland next. Strickland took the title from Adesanya at UFC 293 and lost it in a close fight to du Plessis at UFC 297.
Neither is thinking a second of that, however.
There is urgent business for each to handle in the Octagon squarely in front of them.