Dricus Du Plessis is aware of Kamaru Usman‘s final chapter but not at his expense.
Former middleweight champion Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) takes on Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 281 main event on July 18 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City (Paramount+).
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A former five-time defending UFC welterweight champ, Usman wants to become a two-division champion before calling it a career. Du Plessis has his own goals of reclaiming his title.
“The amount of five-round experience and just how long he’s been an athlete from wrestling to MMA, the people he’s fought, just the caliber of fighters that he has fought and being at the top of the sport for so long, a guy like that is always dangerous,” Du Plessis said on Fight Forecast. “And I know he’s dangerous. He can knock you out. He only has one submission, I think, and he has nine KOs and TKOs, so not a big finisher, and that’s the thing. He’s a guy who will grind it out. The problem is I expect him to come with that physicality like he always does. It’s not going to work. I am the most physical guy in the division, 100 percent.
“It’s going to be a massive honor to share the cage with an absolute legend like Kamaru. I do know he’s going to bring the best out of me because if you fight a guy like that, and you’re not at your best, you will lose that fight, and that’s why we have made sure that I’m the best I’ve ever been. That’s what I’m expecting from him. Two fights, the motivation is there for him to go win this fight, get a title shot, sail off into the sunset with an amazing career, two-weight division champion, but I’m not going to let that happen. There’s only one champion in that division, and that’s me.”
Du Plessis lost his middleweight title to Khamzat Chimaev last year at UFC 319. Chimaev has since lost his belt at UFC 328 to Sean Strickland, whom Du Plessis defeated twice in title fights.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dricus Du Plessis eager to spoil Kamaru Usman’s storybook ending
