UFC middleweight Dricus du Plessis acknowledges he trained with Israel Adesanya in the past — but says they never did any striking whatsoever.

Adesanya recently revealed he trained with Du Plessis in Thailand back in 2014 when he had virtually zero MMA experience. The UFC middleweight champion revealed that while he was beaten in the grappling department, he messed Du Plessis up in the striking.

Du Plessis confirmed the grappling and wrestling part of Adesanya's statement, going as far as to say he manhandled him.

But according to him, the striking part is completely made up as he claims he and Adesanya didn't even do one round on the feet.

“We trained in Thailand together,” Du Plessis told The Schmo (via MMA Junkie). “I think I was 19 years old at the time. He had quite a record in MMA already back then. I was 3-0, I think, when we trained together. He said I beat him in the grappling exchanges. He’s 100 percent correct in that. I did manhandle him in the grappling and wrestling exchanges.

“But we did not do a single round of striking together – not one. I mean, that was his way of saving himself saying, ‘No, but I beat him in the striking.’ We never did striking together – not one round. When we sparred, we grappled, and we wrestled. We never did one single round of striking together, not as far as I know, and that’s something you would remember.”

Du Plessis could end up fighting Adesanya at UFC 293 provided he defeats Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. Many believe Whittaker will come out on top with Adesanya even manifesting a Du Plessis win so he could punish the latter.

But for Du Plessis, Adesanya should be careful what he wishes for.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Du Plessis said. “At the end of the day, I don’t care if he hopes, if he wants it. I’ll win on my terms, and it’s imminent like I said. When I fight for the belt, I’m gonna fight Adesanya. He says he’s hoping that I win; that’s good. I don’t need hope. I think the hope is for those that believe winning can happen by accident.

“I’m not winning by accident or by him hoping. I’m winning because of hard work and because I’m the best fighter. He’ll get his shot. He can stand in line. He’s calling me out; I’m not calling him out. So I’ll be fighting him because that’s what I deserve, but he can stand in line just like everybody else and when the time comes, I’ll be fighting him.”