Report: Israel Adesanya '100% in' for Du Plessis UFC 305 Fight; No Contract Offered

It appears Israel Adesanya could return to the octagon at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, this summer.

Adesanya is "100 percent in" for a UFC 305 middleweight championship fight against Dricus Du Plessis if a contract is offered, according to MMA insider Ariel Helwani.

Adesanya, who is 24-3, hasn't fought since a loss to Sean Strickland in a middleweight title bout at UFC 293 in September 2023. Strickland won via unanimous decision to claim the middleweight title.

Du Plessis, who is 21-2, defeated Strickland at UFC 297 in January to claim the UFC middleweight championship for the first time. However, he injured both legs in that bout and it was initially unclear when he would be ready to fight again.

Du Plessis told ESPN's Leonard Solms last month that he would be ready to go this summer and that he was eyeing a fight against Adesanya.

"Absolutely," Du Plessis told ESPN when asked if a title fight against Adesanya in his home country of South Africa was his dream bout.

"Fighting Izzy on home soil would be the ideal. That would be ticking a lot of boxes. He's one of the best to ever do it in the middleweight division.

"Of course, bringing the UFC to Africa would be awesome. That would be a victory in itself for MMA and for Africa. Of course, South Africa being my home country, it would be amazing to fight him on home soil."

The two have been feuding since Du Plessis said Adesanya, who was born in Nigeria and resides in New Zealand, wasn't a true African UFC champion.

"Did those belts ever go to Africa? As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand. I'm going to take a belt to Africa," Du Plessis said at his UFC 285 media day, referring to the titles won by Adesanya, Francis Ngannou and Kamaru Usman.

"I'm the African fighter in the UFC. Myself and Cameron; we breathe African air. We wake up in Africa every day. We train in Africa, we're African born, we're African raised. We still reside in Africa, we train out of Africa. That's an African champion, and that's who I'll be."

If Adesanya and Du Plessis step into the octagon this summer, it'll surely be a fight to remember, especially as Adesanya looks to reclaim the title.