Adesanya vs. Du Plessis: When Colorism and Racial Identity Creates Conflict

(via RAC Arena)

UFC 305 is headlined by one of the most controversial feuds in UFC history. Former long time Middleweight Champion, Israel Adesanya and current Middleweight Champion, Dricus Du Plessis have a feud rooted in their African heritage.

Adesanya, born in Lagos, Nigeria, was the second ever African born UFC champion. Du Plessis, from Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa, was the first ever African born and residing champion in the promotion’s history.

This is only because every other African UFC champion has chosen to leave their country of origin in search of better coaching and training partners.

This led to Adesanya taking umbrage with Du Plessis’ claim to being the first “real African Champion.” After Du Plessis defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 in July 2023, Adesanya came into the cage, shouted racial slurs at Du Plessis, and calling him his African brother, effectively attempting to bait him into saying the slur back. This outrage was also felt by the other two African born champions at the time, Kamaru Usman, and Francis N’Gannou.

The biggest issue in this conflict stems from both colorism and racial identify. Both these fighters are connected to Africa, and the fact that Adesanya currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand does not make him any less African. Du Plessis is postulating that the fact that he lives and trains in South Africa makes him more African than any other African champion that has come before him.

This assertion is rather preposterous because not only are the other champions born, and spent a portion of their childhood in Africa, they are also of African ethnicity. Du Plessis, rather obviously, does not share this commonality with the other African champions.

The argument of a “real African champion” that Du Plessis has made implies that his nationality supersedes any racial identity of the other African champions. Effectively undermining the ethnicity of the other champions, and the societal perceptions that come with being ethnically African.

This concept is what led Adesanya to be so outraged by Du Plessis’ assertion, and for good reason. In the United States, so many individuals proudly wear their ethnicity on their sleeve, despite being born and raised outside of the country that they ethnically originate from.

What Du Plessis is doing is effectively eliminating Adesanya’s, Usman’s, and N’Gannou’s heritage, claiming that they are less connected to Africa than he is, and disregarding the societal implications that come with being ethnically African that he has not experienced.

All of these facets are what makes this rivalry so heated and compelling in the same breath. Both of these fighters will be motivated by the assertions that they have voiced come August 17th. Since this argument deeply affects each fighter, it is sure to increase their intensities once they step in the Octagon.