"I was winning the fight": Adesanya proud of performance against Du Plessis despite world title defeat at UFC 305

Taking to the post-fight press conference stage in the bowels of Perth's RAC Arena on Sunday, Israel Adesanya was a picture of quiet contentment.

Just 30 minutes earlier, Adesanya had been forced to tap to Dricus Du Plessis' vice-tight rear-naked choke, settling their score in emphatic fashion after an explosive build-up to the bout predicated on a game of African one upmanship.

Ahead on one of the three judges' scorecards heading into a fourth round he was likely winning, Adesanya felt he was well poised to close out the championship rounds, until Du Plessis dragged him to the mat to begin the fatal fight-ending sequence.

But despite the result, Adesanya was upbeat about his performance. After essentially a year out of the Octagon - the longest hiatus of his UFC tenure - there were signs of vintage 'The Last Stylebender' throughout those near four rounds of action - enough to leave him encouraged he has plenty of left to offer.

"I felt like I was winning the fight," Adesanya said.

"I hurt him a few times to the body and I felt my shot was coming because he kept on reacting to when I was hurting his body. But again, tough dude, strong spirit.

"I wouldn't say I'm disappointed in myself, but I'm proud of the way I carried myself this camp and I came in ready. It sucks to lose.

"In my eyes, I was winning the fight until I wasn't. As long as I performed, I made myself proud. I just don't like the result. But again I'm not hanging on the result. I'm just proud of how I performed."

The benefits of Adesanya's layoff were certainly clear through the opening few rounds, where he seemed to have a distinct striking edge over his opponent.

But fatigue began to set in with both fighters partway through the third round, when Du Plessis' relentless aggression paid dividends in what Adesanya later described as a "stupid mistake" - one which ultimately led to his downfall.

"For me, I have to watch it again because I don't think I was rocked," Adesanya reflected.

"I think I slipped and I was like, 'What the f*** was that?' and then he was trying to catch me as I was exiting. I can't remember how he took me down because everything in me is always a blur. It's still fresh, it just happened 20, 30 minutes ago.

"I tried to fight the top hand, and I don't know what mistake I made because I tried to turn into him, but then he got on my back because I was using the fence maybe? He switched to a Gable grip and then I wasn't able to separate the hands like I wanted to.

"I have to watch it properly to really see what happened, but I felt great. He didn't really surprise me because I knew he was tough."

Outcome aside, it was a much different version of Adesanya than the listless, inactive, and almost indifferent fighter seen against Sean Strickland back in September in Sydney, where he was defeated in a shutout against the American - a bout that will go down as one of the biggest upsets in UFC title history.

This time around, Adesanya concedes he lost to the better fighter and while he couldn't become the first three-time middleweight world champion, he joked he still managed to create some history.

"Last time, I lost my fight in the worst fashion," Adesanya said. "This is my first time being submitted, another history. Wow, amazing. I keep doing it. I'm great at this.

"The last one was just something that I wasn't happy with. This one, I'm happy with the way I performed, just not happy with the result. I wasn't holding onto the result.

"I was just worried about displaying the work that we've done, and I felt like I did that."

As for what's next for Adesanya, he was non-committal in the immediate aftermath of the bout. The winner of Robert Whittaker's main event clash with Khamzat Chimaev in Abu Dhabi in October could make sense, although he didn't appear to leap at the prospect.

He insists he's certainly not holding on to any potential rematch with Du Plessis, who will now likely attempt to defend his title on African soil in a rematch with No.1 contender Strickland.

As for their feud, based on Du Plessis' assertion he's the true African champion in the UFC rather than Nigerian-born, NZ-based Adesanya, the City Kickboxing product insists their beef is squashed.

The pair shared a heartwarming moment backstage after the bouts, when Du Plessis presented Adesanya with one of his custom UFC African-themed jackets, before sharing some kind words with his vanquished opponents' parents - a subject that had caused Adesanya to explode with emotion during the pre-fight press conference.

"I'm not really desperate to get it back," Adesanya said of a rematch, at least - an immediate one.

"He gave me a lot of respect in there and I gave him his respect back. I already knew he was a fan of me. I already knew he was a fan of me. But yes, now I'm a fan of his. We've been in there and we've done it. When I'm in South Africa, I'll tap in with him. I said, 'Look, we can hang out. But when we have to fight again, I'm going to kill you.' He's like, 'I'm going to kill you, too.'

"The respect is always there. Dricus is an African champion. But 'The Three Kings' will reign supreme. That era right there was what set this off for people like him. He's going to inspire another generation of African fighters as well.

"So congrats to him tonight - until we meet again."

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