Dricus Du Plessis believes Kamaru Usman has made a huge mistake signing on the dotted line to fight him.
Their bout, which has been rumored for months but is finally official, will go down as the main event for UFC Fight Night Oklahoma City on July 18th. That’s not too long for us fans to wait, but “Stillknocks” hasn’t fought since his embarrassing loss to Khamzat Chimaev back in August 2025. He’s ready to go and discussed the newly announced fight on the Fight Forecast YouTube channel.
“You think
you’ve been waiting. I’ve been waiting!” Du Plessis exclaimed. “We’ve been talking about the fight for a long time.”
“I was supposed to fight in April, got the injury,” he said. “Man, I think that was all for a reason because the fire in me to get back in there is like never before. I’m feeling great. Camp is going great.”
According to Du Plessis, the holdup was all on Usman’s side.
“Now I know you didn’t wanna sign the contract,” the South African said. “I know that for a fact. When I spoke to UFC, they said, ‘We’ve 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 wanna fight me right now. It would be the smart move not to sign this fight, but you know, let’s go.”
After Khamzat Chimaev dominated Dricus Du Plessis on the ground, there’s some questions about whether Kamaru Usman is a ‘smart move’ for Du Plessis. According to “Stillknocks,” it’s exactly what he wanted to prove he can hang with wrestlers.
“I wanna go out there and prove what I’ve done,” he said. “Like I said, go out and figure this out and go show the problem that the middleweights have on their hands now. Because now I am more complete, and I was a complete fighter. But now I am complete in all areas, and I can’t wait to go and show that.”
The loss to Chimaev snapped an 11-win streak for Du Plessis, and then the long layoff has people forgetting what an unlikely dominating force the former middleweight champion was. He’ll have the opportunity to remind everyone of his mettle on July 18th in Oklahoma City.
