With April’s UFC 300 main event still a mystery, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has stoked speculation that he might be the man to fill the gap atop the bumper card.

The two-time 185-pound champion, 34, had suggested last year following his surprise defeat to Sean Strickland that he had intentions of stepping away from the sport for a period of time but was steadfast that he would return before long to settle business at the top of the division. It was thought that this absence would preclude him from competition for at least a year, probably more, but Adesanya’s name has been frequently mentioned as a possible headliner for the UFC 300 card in a title bout against newly-minted champion Dricus du Plessis.

And those rumours aren’t going away today after Adesanya posted an image to social media of the film ‘300’ along with the line ‘The gods must be crazy.’

Now, it must be stressed that this is all speculation but Du Plessis and Adesanya had been aligned to fight last year before Strickland was handed the shot against Adesanya in Australia in September

“Nothing is certain yet, but that is what we want to do,” Strickland said of competing at UFC 300 when he returned to South Africa last week following his title win.

“UFC 300 is a big possibility if my body allows it. I took some punishment obviously with some small injuries. I’m not 100 percent sure what the gravity of those injuries are. I’m going to the doctor after this and making sure concussion tests are done, making sure we do the scans, making sure that there’s nothing serious injured. Then UFC 300 is a big, big possibility.”

“I have to be honest with you,” Du Plessis said. “If UFC Africa is going to happen, you’re going to look very far beyond to find a more perfect fight than me vs. Israel Adesanya and that’s a fight I want right here on home soil where he said he wants to make it happen.”