Du Plessis claims UFC had to convince reluctant Usman to sign Oklahoma City fight

Dricus du Plessis has claimed that Kamaru Usman needed persuading by the UFC before agreeing to their middleweight clash at UFC Oklahoma City on July 18, with the South African saying the promotion told him it had “finally convinced” Usman to put pen to paper.

The fight’s announcement came late, despite du Plessis stating weeks earlier that he had already accepted a bout and was simply waiting on his opponent. Speaking to Fight Forecast, du Plessis was blunt about what he says happened behind the scenes.

“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.”

Despite the pointed remarks, du Plessis was careful not to dismiss Usman as a spent force. The former UFC middleweight champion pointed to the performance of Usman’s teammate Justin Gaethje, who defeated the considerably younger Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250, as evidence that age alone is not a reliable indicator of decline.

“We’ve been talking about the fight for a long time,” du Plessis added. “He’s mentioned the fight way before we made the fight and I said, ‘Well, cool. I’ll take that fight.’ Now people will say, ‘Why don’t you fight Imavov?’ I don’t mind that fight either. I want to fight somebody that gets me to my title again. Kamaru Usman, yes, he’s a bit older, but now you look at what Gaethje just did, so that throws that argument out the window immediately.”

Usman, a former dominant welterweight champion, has been out of the title picture for a couple of years, while du Plessis is looking to reclaim the middleweight belt he previously held. The UFC Oklahoma City main event now gives both men a high-profile route back toward championship contention.