What happened to Adesanya vs. Du Plessis UFC 300 main event? ‘Timing just didn’t work for DDP’

After weeks of anticipation and some extreme scrambling from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), we now have our UFC 300 main event: Light Heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, will defend his belt against Jamahal Hill, which is a solid fight if a bit anti-climactic after all the endless hype and Irish speculation.

How exactly did we end up here, with “Pereira vs. Hill” coming out of left field to take the headliner role on April 13, 2024? On the latest episode of The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani dug into the announcement and what other fights UFC was working on with just two months left until showtime.

“I can tell you with 1,000 percent certainty that [Pereira vs. Hill] was slated to be the main event for UFC 301,” Helwani said. “They announced Saturday, May 4th they’re going back to Rio [de Janeiro] for a pay-per-view. The main event was supposed to be Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill.

“This all came together yesterday, [Hill] said,” Helwani continued. “According to Pereira’s team it came together like two days before the announcement. This wasn’t the top choice. I don’t even know if it was the fifth choice.

“As I said last Monday, they wanted Leon [Edwards] vs. Khamzat [Chimaev] ... [Leon] said they offered him three fights: Khamzat, top choice. Some talk of Shavkat [Rakhmonov]. Some talk of even Islam [Makhachev]. He said ‘yes’ to all of them. Never said specific names, but trust me on this one. Amazingly, Belal [Muhammad] not one of them!”

You can blame Ramadan, travel sanctions and an ankle injury on Edwards’ three potential opponents not materializing. As for Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis, which was the fight many had been hoping for? It sounds like Du Plessis may have been a bit too beat up following his split decision win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 earlier this year.

“Izzy vs. DDP was another one on the table,” Helwani said. “Those three Leon fights and Izzy vs. DDP. My understanding was the timing just didn’t work out for DDP. And I still think that should be the next title fight, but it didn’t work out [for UFC 300]. I think Izzy was in, but the timing just didn’t work out.

“Bit of a quick turnaround [for Du Plessis] coming off of January,” Helwani continued. “Not as quick as July to September, but the timing just didn’t work out.”

If accurate, this would be the second time Du Plessis has been unable to accommodate UFC’s requests for an immediate turnaround. “Stillknocks” beat Robert Whittaker in July 2023 and was asked to fight Adesanya at UFC 293 in Australia for September. He took a lot of heat from Dana White for turning that one down. Will he end up taking even more once the dust settles on this UFC 300 booking fiasco?

(Another) opportunity lost.

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