Amid the rivalry that exists ahead of the first all-African UFC title fight this weekend, Israel Adesanya has warned that the achievements of continent’s first-ever UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou must not be forgotten.
This weekend’s UFC 305 main event from Perth, Australia is to be headlined Nigerian-born Adesanya against the South African Du Plessis in a bout expected to captivate fight fans across the African continent. But speaking to the media, including The Mac Life, on Wednesday Adesanya said that Ngannou — who exited the UFC more than two years ago as its heavyweight champion — cannot be whitewashed from the UFC following his somewhat acrimonious exit after UFC promotional material appeared to have edited out references made by Adesanya about the Cameroonian fighter.
“You can’t erase Francis’ legacy in the UFC,” Adesanya said. “It’s part of what we’ve done. It’s forever in history, in stone. So trying to whitewash it or just not talk about it is silly. I know he’s fighting for the PFL right now but it’s still history. You can’t just turn a blind eye to it. I’m sure they’ll fix it eventually. This is how business goes with the UFC.”
It was confirmed last week that Ngannou will return to mixed martial arts under the PFL banner on October 19, where he will take on the giant Brazilian Renan Ferreira, and Adesanya said that he expects his friend to prosper in his new home.
“I’m happy for him,” he said. “I’m happy for what he’s doing. He just went through something that I would never wish on anyone. We’ve talked. I’ve checked up on him. Again, I respect Francis so much.”
