Dricus du Plessis is set to return in a high-stakes middleweight main event, facing former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman at UFC Oklahoma City on July 18.
The matchup was only recently made official, and du Plessis says it took some work behind the scenes to lock it in. “He didn’t want to sign the contract, I know that for a fact,” du Plessis said. “I spoke to the UFC and they said, ‘We finally convinced him to sign.’ If you need convincing to sign, that’s a problem, but I can’t blame him, I would also not want to fight me right now. It would be the smart move not to sign the fight, but let’s go.”
Du Plessis, who lost his middleweight belt to Khamzat Chimaev after being out-wrestled at UFC 319, is targeting Usman specifically to showcase his evolution. “What’s it going to mean for me to go out there and beat another striker? I’ve done that many times, I’ve defended my belt against strikers,” he said, pointing to Usman’s credentials and wrestling-heavy style as the exact test he wants.
The South African contender has been inactive since August after an injury scrapped a planned April bout, but says the layoff has only fueled him. “It’s been long,” du Plessis admitted. “I was supposed to fight in April, got the injury. I think that was all for a reason because the fire in me to get back in there is like never before.”
Usman enters with a decorated welterweight run that included a 15-fight UFC win streak, a 2019 title win and five successful defenses, plus a close middleweight decision against Khamzat Chimaev.
