Former middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis returns to the octagon on July 18 in the UFC Fight Night 281 main event against former welterweight titleholder Kamaru Usman. It will be Du Plessis’ first fight since losing the title to Khamzat Chimaev last August.
Usman called for the fight months ago but it wasn’t signed until now. Du Plessis, the No. 2 ranked contender in the division, justified facing Usman next instead of third-ranked Nassourdine Imavov.
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“We’ve been talking about the fight a long time. He mentioned the fight way before we made the fight and I said, ‘Well, cool. I’ll take that fight.’ Now people 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,” Du Plessis. told Fight Forecast.
“Kamaru Usman, yes, he’s a bit older, but now you look at what [Justin] Gaethje just did. I mean, so that throws that argument out the window immediately. Kamaru Usman is arguably the best welterweight ever, you know, alongside Georges St-Pierre if you go on title defenses and all that. So, he started his career out at middleweight. He has a win over Sean Strickland. He had that very close fight with Khamzat Chimaev. And that’s why I wanted this fight.”
Du Plelssis wanted the stylistic matchup Usman brings to the table to show his grappling improvements. He didn’t think Imavov would give him that opportunity.
“What’s it going to mean for me to go out there and beat another striker? I’ve done that many times. I defended my belt against strikers. I’ve beaten the best, which is Strickland at middleweight twice. So, why go out there and fight another striker? People are going to be like, ‘Yeah, okay, well, we know he can strike. What about the wrestling and grappling’ because of my last fight,” Du Plessis said.
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“I want to go out there and prove what I’ve done. Prove, 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.”
When he makes the walk to the octagon on July 18 at Paycom Center, it will have been 11 months since he last competed. Du Plessis said the layoff just lit a fire in him. He also claimed Usman didn’t want to sign the bout agreement.
“It’s been long. I was supposed to fight in April, got the injury, and 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,” he said.
“I know he didn’t want to sign the contract. I know that for a fact. You know, 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, you know, let’s go.”
