[autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] was fired up when addressing [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag]’ real African champion comments.
South Africa-born and raised Du Plessis claimed that he’ll be the one to bring the belt to Africa, arguing that unlike him, Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, and Francis Ngannou no longer resided in Africa when they became UFC champions.
Adesanya was irked by Du Plessis’ comments, and that narrative is a big storyline in the lead-up to their title fight at UFC 305 Aug. 17 in Perth. Ghana’s Alhassan (12-6 MMA, 6-6 UFC) did not take it easy on Du Plessis, blasting him for what he deemed as insensitive comments.
“I respect the things he’s done in MMA, but he’s a f*cking b*tch,” Alhassan said at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 59 media day. “He’s a f*cking asshole for that word that he used. If he’s a f*cking real African and he lived in Africa, he would have never used that f*cking word. He’s a f*cking b*tchass to use that word because if he was raised with the poor people in Africa, the way I was raised, the way I grew up, with how I go days without food.
“If we get the opportunity to leave that sh*t hole – I’m sorry, I’m not trying to call my country a sh*t hole, but if I’m poor and I can go to America or go to a different country to make a better life for myself, I’d f*cking cut off one of my legs to go. If he’s a true African, he would have understood that. That means he was living the comfortable life, his family had the money to feed him every day, so he didn’t have to worry about leaving (Africa) to go and make it.”
Alhassan returns to action in Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 59 (ESPN/ESPN+) main card opener when he takes on Cody Brundage (10-6 MMA, 4-5 UFC) at Ball Arena in Denver.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 59.