A pivotal middleweight showdown takes center stage in the promotion’s return to the Sooner State
A pair of former UFC champions will headline the promotion’s return to Oklahoma City on July 18 in an intriguing middleweight bout for UFC Fight Night.
Dricus du Plessis (23-3), in his long-awaited return since losing his 185-pound title last August, will face former pound-for-pound king and welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (21-4) in a five-round bout inside Paycom Center. The event marks UFC’s third visit to Oklahoma’s capital city and the first since 2017.
The 39-year-old Usman, who lost his 170-pound belt in 2022 following four title defenses, will snap a 13-month layoff as he returns for the first time since securing a redeemable unanimous decision win over welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley that snapped a three-fight losing streak.
The fight was officially announced during Saturday’s UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas broadcast.
Du Plessis, the No. 2-ranked middleweight, dropped his middleweight title at UFC 319 in a one-sided performance dominated by Chimaev’s wrestling. The loss was the first for the 32-year-old native of South Africa since 2018 and brought an end to his 11-fight win streak, which featured a split-decision win over Sean Strickland in 2024 to win the 185-pound title.
The bout will mark Usman’s second fight at middleweight and first since he lost a majority decision on late notice against then-unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in 2023. Usman, ranked No. 9 at welterweight, won his first 15 walks to the Octagon after his 2015 UFC debut, which was one shy of the promotional record for consecutive wins shared by Anderson Silva and Islam Makhachev.
Du Plessis-Usman joins a fight card featuring former middleweight title challenger Jared Cannonier against a surging Christian Leroy Duncan and a key women’s strawweight bout between Fatima Kline and late replacement Tabatha Ricci.
