Former UFC middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis, claims Kamaru Usman was hesitant to sign the contract for UFC Oklahoma on July 18 in Oklahoma City. But “The Nigerian Nightmare” insists “Stillknocks” was never officially offered and that last month’s announcement caught him by surprise.
“I’ve just been ready to fight since, like, February — well, I asked for a fight since then,” Usman said on his Pound 4 Pound podcast. “And it was like, ‘Ah, we don’t know.’ We all know which fight that I wanted.
I wanted that fight. And so I think there was just a lot of back and forth stuff being done, and now we kind of hear all the stories of potentially they were trying to make Ilia versus Islam and all of these things, and I wanted the Islam fight. So all of these things behind the scenes kind of dragged on. And then DDP was mentioned, not really offered, but mentioned, and I said, yeah, if that’s … I just need something that gets me to the title. I just want that. You’re not gonna give me the title, then give me something that gets me to the title. And so this wasn’t really offered. He was mentioned.”
The 39 year-old Usman, who previously held the welterweight title, was campaigning for another shot at the 170-pound strap, currently worn by Islam Makhachev. Instead, the promotion opted to have Makhachev make his first welterweight title defense against top contender Ian Garry at UFC 330 next month in Philadelphia.
“I said, Okay, let’s do it soon at [UFC 327 in] Miami, I even asked that,” Usman continued. “And then he was like, ‘Yeah, Miami’s too soon, he might not be ready.’ And so, it is what it is. So I thought the fight was off, it wasn’t gonna happen, and then there was, like, oh, then it’s potentially gonna happen. Obviously, there’s some logistics you have to work through when you’re at this level. And, and that’s what it was. And then finally, I guess it was announced. I’m like, ‘Well, shit, I guess it’s happening. You know, let’s, let me go ahead and prepare.’ There’s still a club that I’m not in yet and I want to be in that [champ champ] club. So it’s something that I’m still chasing, and something that’s still very attractive to me in the sport. So I’m gonna pursue that. Whoever the opponent is, it doesn’t really matter to me at this point, because it’s bigger than just a fight.”
The rarely-active Usman (21-4) has not competed since his his Joaquin Buckley win atop the UFC Atlanta fight card in June 2025, his lone appearance over the last three years. As for Du Plessis (23-3), he’s looking to get back into the win column after losing his 185-pound title to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 last summer in Chicago.
To see who else is fighting at UFC Oklahoma later this month click here.
