Dricus Du Plessis Rejects Kelvin Gastelum’s Challenge for Title Eliminator Fight

• Kelvin Gastelum challenged Dricus du Plessis to a title eliminator fight at UFC 290
• Du Plessis is currently eyeing a title fight with Israel Adesanya for the Middleweight belt
• Gastelum and du Plessis were due to fight before, but the American was injured prior to the fight

Dricus du Plessis has no interest in fighting Kelvin Gastelum.

The South African fighter shot down a challenge from the American, as he is only eyeing a fight that takes him closer to Israel Adesanya.

As noted by BJ Penn, Gastelum took to social media to challenge du Plessis to a fight, billing it as a title eliminator. The duo were previously scheduled to fight each other, but an injury to Gastelum forced him to withdraw from the bout.

He returned to action at the beginning of April this year, beating Chris Curtis on the judge's scorecards. Ranked 11th in the division, according to UFC Stats, Gastelum then tried to reschedule a fight with Du Plessis.

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He's made it clear that he is on a mission to win the gold and needs to beat the best in order to get closer to that goal. However, Du Plessis doesn't see value in him fighting a competitor who is ranked lower than himself.

The South African is undefeated in the organisation and ranked sixth in the Middleweight division at the moment. His last fight saw him stop Derek Brunson, and he's recently been engaged in a war of words with the champion, Adesanya.

Du Plessis took to Twitter to decline Gastelum's request, accusing him of dodging their previous fight.

Dricus responds to Adesanya’s threat

Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya are on a collision course for the UFC Middleweight title.

Tensions between the two fighters have escalated since Adesanya beat Alex Pereira for the title in the main event of UFC 287, Sports Brief previously reported.

'The Last Stylebender' took aim at du Plessis but did not mention him by name, supposedly to not give him any attention, but the South African isn’t having it.