Dricus Du Plessis advised he better “show up” at UFC 293 or risk losing a title shot

Dricus Du Plessis is being advised that he better ‘show up’ at UFC 293 or he’ll risk losing a shot at the title.

UFC 293 takes place this coming weekend, on Saturday, September 9th at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

The main event will feature a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya (24-2 MMA) and Sean Strickland (27-5 MMA).

Dricus Du Plessis (20-2 MMA) recently fought and defeated Robert Whittaker (24-7 MMA) via TKO this past July at UFC 290.

It was anticipated that ‘Stillknocks’ and ‘The Last Stylebender’ would be next to battle it out in the Octagon. However, Du Plessis sustained a foot injury at UFC 290 and was unavailable to compete as early as this month, hence Adesanya vs Strickland became the ticket at UFC 293.

It was during a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, that ex-middleweight and light heavyweight UFC contender, Chael Sonnen, discussed the much anticipated title fight this weekend and the role of Dricus Du Plessis saying:

“Who is Izzy going to call out after his match with Sean Strickland? … He has never left the cage without letting us, the audience, know who’s next. And by the way, he’s gotten his way 100 percent of the time. If Izzy wins, it appears it’s going to be Du Plessis or (Khamzat) Chimaev should he beat Paulo Costa… Make no mistake, there is some marching orders.”

Concluding, Sonnen shared (h/t MMANews):

“Israel has told Du Plessis, ‘You need to be here. Step number one, you need to come here and you need to be here.’ … He’s not joking about that. If he’s in the cage and he looks out and there’s no Du Plessis, who did not do the one thing that Izzy told him you need to do, I don’t think he’s gonna call him out… If Du Plessis doesn’t go, I do not believe he’s going to be part of the story… if he doesn’t show up, I think it’s gonna be a problem. And I’m not convinced he is gonna show.”

It’s true that Israel Adesanya was disappointed that he would not be facing Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 293. Also true that should Adesanya defeat Strickland this weekend, there is no guarantee that Du Plessis will get the nod for the next battle in the cage.

In fact, Adesanya, took to ‘X’, with the following warning for Du Plessis:

#UFC293 I call the shots. You don’t call the shot, dickless. You need to understand this, You can sit pretty wherever you want, but if I decide to, I might give it to whoever wins between Costa and Khamzat, not you.”

Do you think Dricus Du Plessis will appear cageside this weekend? If not, do you believe, as Sonnen does, that he’s sabotaging his own shot at the title?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!