Adesanya 'not really desperate' to avenge Du Plessis loss

Israel Adesanya seems rather at peace with the fact he came up short in his bid to become a three-time UFC middleweight champion.

Adesanya suffered a fourth-round submission loss to Dricus Du Plessis in the UFC 305 main event Saturday in Perth, Australia. Although things were personal between the two leading up to the fight, Adesanya said afterward he's not in a rush to face Du Plessis again.

"I'm not really desperate to get it back," Adesanya, who's riding the first losing streak of his pro MMA career, said at the postfight press conference. "He gave me a lot of respect in there, and I gave him his respect back. I already knew he was a fan of me. ... But I guess now I'm a fan of his, because we've been in there, we've done it.

"And when I'm in South Africa, I'll tap in with him. I said, 'Look, we can hang out, but just so you know, when we have to fight again, I'm gonna kill you.' And he's like, 'I'm gonna kill you, too.' The respect is always there."

Adesanya was putting on a relatively good performance up until Du Plessis' submission, particularly in the third and fourth rounds. He outworked Du Plessis on the feet and landed several body shots that wore the champion down. Though he is still not happy with the result, Adesanya said he's much more encouraged by how he looked against Du Plessis than he did in his title loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 last September.

"I could feel (Du Plessis) was getting tired," Adesanya said. "But again, just strong mindset, strong spirit. He's stubborn. He didn't want to go away. I was pushing him back. He was pushing me back at some points, but I was able to exit nicely and then push him back. He became predictable with his attack. So, I was able to just escape and put it back on him."

Adesanya added: "In my eyes, I was winning the fight until I wasn't."

Du Plessis secured his first title defense after capturing gold with a split-decision win over Strickland at UFC 297 in January.