It didn’t take long for current middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and former longtime champ Israel Adesanya to reignite their rivalry.

The pair of star 185-pounders answered questions and went back and forth at an event Wednesday to promote the upcoming UFC 305 they are set to headline.

“Beating him is what attracted me to this fight. Not the belt,” said Adesanya who has not fought since losing his title in September.

The former longtime champ lost a unanimous decision to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 this past September. Strickland then lost the title via split decision to Du Plessis at UFC 297 in January.

Adesanya had announced a brief hiatus from the sport following his loss to Strickland.

“I’m glad you took up golf because that’s a retirement sport,” Du Plessis said of one of Adesanya’s hobbies. “I can understand why you took up golf.”

South Africa's Du Plessis and the Nigerian-born Adesanya squared off for a photo-op and ended up staring at each other for more than a minute straight before they were separated.

Adesanya is the only fighter to defeat current light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in mixed martial arts when he knocked him out 15 months ago at UFC 287. The 34-year-old also has wins over Anderson Silva, Yoel Romero, Marvin Vettori, Jared Cannonier and holds multiple victories over Robert Whittaker.

Du Plessis, 30, is 21-2 in MMA and has not lost at the UFC level. The undisputed champion finished Whittaker, Derek Brunson and Darren Till prior to facing and beating Strickland.

In addition to the five-round middleweight title fight, UFC 305 is scheduled to feature a high-level flyweight bout between Australia’s Steve Erceg and New Zealand’s Kai Kara-France.

Other fights announced for UFC 305 include: Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Junior Tafa vs. Valter Walker, Casey O'Neill vs. Tereza Bleda, Joshua Culibao vs. Ricardo Ramos, Jack Jenkins vs. Gavin Tucker, and Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes.

The event takes place Aug. 17 (Aug. 18 local) at RAC Arena in Perth. It will mark the organization’s first trip to the city since UFC 284 when Islam Makhachev fought Alexander Volkanovski in the first of their back-to-back champion vs. champion bouts.

UFC 305 headliners Dricus Du Plessis, Israel Adesanya have intense staredown

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