Kamaru Usman was critical of the initial disagreement that arose between Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis.
The controversy began in 2023 when Adesanya, then holding the UFC middleweight title, entered a heated dispute with the emerging contender du Plessis. The argument centered on the definition of an African champion. Adesanya, along with Usman and Francis Ngannou, was part of the “Three Kings” – fighters holding UFC belts with African heritage. However, du Plessis, who continues to reside in South Africa, suggested that Adesanya wasn`t a true African champion, igniting a rivalry that lasted until their eventual fight at UFC 305.
While Adesanya and du Plessis eventually reconciled, agreeing that all were legitimate African champions, Kamaru Usman recently told Adesanya on his YouTube channel that du Plessis`s original comments also bothered him.
“I`ll sum it up as this: it`s deep. It`s very, very deep,” Usman stated. “It might go over a lot of people`s heads. It`s very, very deep. But here`s the situation, and this is where it rubbed me wrong. Obviously, I`m a black African American and I see how things are, I see how I`m treated, race or not, doesn`t matter. But this is what kind of got me.”
He questioned du Plessis`s approach: “When you come in and there`s three African kings already, why is your mentality, why is your whole thought process not, `Man, I want to be the fourth African champion`? You chose to step into that limelight and come in on the direction of, `That guy, that guy, and that guy don`t live here anymore. They`re not African champions.` And that`s the only thing that rubbed me wrong.”
Despite his criticism, Usman mentioned that he likes du Plessis, describing him as “a good guy” based on their past encounters. He speculated that the entire situation might have been a misunderstanding that became exaggerated, which du Plessis then used to his advantage.
Usman elaborated on the potential for misinterpretation, explaining, “To take it further, obviously you just get done with the fight or you`re doing media and you`re hyped, and you`ve got that camera in front of you and you start talking, you might not necessarily be saying or meaning things the way they come out… So he might not have necessarily meant it that way, but people ran with it. And he saw an opportunity. `This is an opportunity for me to get there and fight for that title.` He built a storyline and he went out there, fought for the title, and power to him, we still have an African champion.”
He concluded this point by adding, “We`ve moved on from the Three Kings, but that doesn`t mean we forget the Three Kings. We`ve moved on to now it`s four. Four Horsemen.”
As circumstances stand, du Plessis is the only African fighter currently holding a UFC title, following title losses for both Adesanya and Usman, and Francis Ngannou`s move to PFL. Usman views this as placing du Plessis in an important position to carry the torch and hopes “Stillknocks” will do so with greater mindfulness moving forward.
“Respect to him. I like the guy, and he`s a champion,” Usman stated. “He`s still a champion, and he`s defending. He`s representing, and he`s writing the story, and he`s bringing in a whole new crop of guys. So much power, much respect.” He added a crucial point: “It`s just, with power comes responsibility, and you have to understand that anything you say and the way that you say things, people are going to grab onto it. It can be for the better or it can be for the worse, and that topic just happened to be something for the worse.”
