Dricus Du Plessis puts the blame on Kamaru Usman for their fight taking so long to materialize.
Former middleweight champion Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) meets ex-welterweight champ 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+). Rumors about the fight emerged months ago, but the matchup only became official during Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 279 broadcast.
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“He didn’t want to sign the contract. I know that for a fact,” Du Plessis said of Usman on Fight Forecast. “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 also wouldn’t want to fight me right now. It would be the smart move not to sign the fight, but let’s go.”
Du Plessis will look to rebound from his lopsided title-fight loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319. However, with Chimaev losing his belt to Sean Strickland, someone Du Plessis has beaten twice, the South African has new life in the title picture.
He explains why Usman is the perfect opponent to get him there.
“We’ve been talking about the fight for a long time,” Du Plessis said. “He’s mentioned the fight way before we made the fight, and I said, ‘Well, cool. I’ll take that fight.’ People say, ‘Why don’t you fight (Nassourdine) Imavov?’ I don’t mind that fight either. I want to fight somebody who gets me to my title again. Kamaru Usman, yes, he’s a bit older, but now you look at what (Justin) Gaethje just did, so that throws that argument out the window immediately. Kamaru is arguably the best welterweight ever alongside Georges St-Pierre if you go off title defenses and all that. He has a win over Sean Strickland, had that very close fight with Khamzat Chimaev, and that’s why I wanted this fight.
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“What’s it going to mean for me to go out there and beat another striker? I’ve done that many times. I’ve 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, ‘We know you can strike. What about the wrestling and grappling?’ Because of my last fight. I want to go out there and prove what I’ve done, go 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.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dricus Du Plessis: UFC ‘convinced’ Kamaru Usman to accept fight
