Former world welterweight champion in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Kamaru Usman will return to The Octagon on July 18th against South Afirca’s middleweight icon, Dricus Du Plessis, who regards his Nigerian opponent as ‘a very dangerous absolute legend.’
Sports247 reports that, while Du Plessis is also a former middleweight champion, he is not about to take any chances against Usman when they tango on the main event of UFC Fight Night 281 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, USA, as he respects the Nigerian fighter’s long list of achievements.
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Consequently, with just a week to go before they step into The Octagon for yet another date with history, Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is preparing seriously, with a stern intent to whip Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC), who is set to take up his sophomore appearance at 185 pounds.
Usman’s target is to emerge champ in a second weight category, as he steps up again from welterweight to middleweight, but his aspirations run contrary with those of Du Plessis, who is eager to romp his way back into reckoning after losing his prestigious belt to Khamzat Chimaev last year.
Du Plessis is still feeling the pain of that defeat he suffered at UFC 319, especially after Chimaev went on to lose the same belt at UFC 328 to Sean Strickland, a man whom the South African had defeated twice in title fights and he now wants to use Usman as a steppingstone for his return to contention in the race for another belt.
He retorted, “It’s going to be a massive honour 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.
“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 calibre of fighters that he has fought and being at the top of the sport for so long, a guy like that is always dangerous.
“That’s why we have made sure that I’m the best I’ve ever been. That’s what I’m expecting from him. 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.
“I know he’s dangerous. He can knock you out. 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. There’s only one champion in that division, and that’s me. ”
Sports247 reports further that Usman bounced back from three straight defeats by outpointing Joaquin Buckley at UFC Atlanta last June, as he recoiled from losing the welterweight title to Leon Edwards, which was his first defeat in 14 UFC fights.
Usman then failed to reclaim his belt in a rematch before getting another loss to Khamzat Chimaev during a middleweight contest in October 2023 and, after returning to welterweight to defeat Buckley, the 39-year-old Nigerian believed he would be next in line for a shot at 170 pounds champ, Islam Makhachev.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ thought being UFC’s former number one pound-for-pound star would give him an automatic nod to step out against Makhachev, but his hopes of taking on the Russian welterweight king have been delayed, as he will first have to overcome Du Plessis instead.
