Dricus du Plessis stoked the fire once more, when he alluded to the heritage of Israel Adesanya ahead of their UFC 305 Middleweight division title clash in Perth, Australia, on Sunday.
The pair traded verbal blows for much of their pre-fight press conference on Friday.
The fight is scheduled for 6.30am SA time.
In July last year at UFC 290, there had been existing tension between the pair as Du Plessis had said he will become the first “born, bred and trained African champion", which the Nigerian-born champion Adesanya, who now lives and trains in New Zealand (who was champion at the time) clearly didn’t like.
Since then, the two have continued their feud and it reached boiling point on Friday.
‘Don’t speak about my story if you don’t know my story’
After Adesanya said he was heading to Nigeria on Tuesday, Du Plessis deliberately stoked the fire as he said: “Are you taking your servants with you?”
It started a heated exchange, before Adesanya told Du Plessis to “Shut the f**k up, you don’t know anything about my story. Don’t speak about my story if you don’t know my story.
Du Plessis then kept repeating: “I don’t care about your story.”
From there it devolved into a pure insult trade, with the pair growing tired of the pointless argument.
A few minutes later, Adesanya became emotional as the tears began to roll down his face as he said: “He touched a subject there, because I do this for my family. I do this for the people I love, and I will fight for you forever. I’m a human being, I can cry and whip your ass at the same time. Sunday, I’m going to kill your dream b**ch.”
With Du Plessis defending his title, he insisted he didn’t approach this fight any differently, with a rather dramatic disclaimer at the end.
“I didn’t need extra motivation to do this. I have the same motivation when I won that belt and when I made my debut. I don’t come in here like I need to defend that belt, I come in here like I’m still fighting for that belt. I’m willing to die, and take a life for this belt.”
In a boost to his title bid, Du Plessis will be escorted into the octagon by Springboks skipper Siya Kolisi and lock Eben Etzebeth. The Springboks will play their second Rugby Championship match against Australia, also in Perth, on Saturday.