Aljamain Sterling Backs Dricus Du Plessis' Decision Not To Fight Israel Adesanya At UFC 300

Dricus Du Plessis recently explained his decision to turn down the opportunity to main event UFC 300 with a huge fight against Israel Adesanya.

From the moment Du Plessis was victorious against Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January to become the middleweight champion, the grudge match with Adesanya was something people were talking about.

Unfortunately for "Stillknocks," the timing didn't work out as he was forced to spend time recovering from injuries instead of going back into another training camp.

His comments on his teammate Cameron Saaiman's podcast were later praised by a former champion who found himself in a similar situation during his title reign...

Aljamain Sterling Praises Dricus Du Plessis For Putting His Body & Health First

Fresh off his bantamweight title defense against Henry Cejudo, Aljamain Sterling was joined in the cage by Sean O'Malley, with the UFC keen on making that fight as soon as possible.

Having refused the fight at first in order to deal with some injuries and take some time off, "Funk Master" eventually came to terms with the UFC.

Sterling ended up losing the 135-pound title at UFC 292 after fighting just four months on from his five-round contest against Cejudo.

In a post on social media, he praised Du Plessis for taking the time to fully recover rather than jumping back in too early because of the opportunity that was in front of him.

"Good on DDP for recognizing that it’s hard enough to fight and even harder to fight when not closer to your best to start a camp."