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This Saturday, 18 July, the Paycom Centre in Oklahoma City will be buzzing with excitement as a fight filled with tension and urgency takes centre stage. Dricus Du Plessis and Kamaru Usman, two former UFC champions at a crossroads in their careers, will face off in the main event of a UFC Fight Night that could reshuffle the deck in the middleweight division. The main event, scheduled in the middleweight division, pits two former titleholders with very different profiles against each other. Here’s a preview of an evening that’s sure to be both thrilling and full of high stakes for the division.
Du Plessis: the return of the South African warrior
Dricus Du Plessis (23-3) has not tasted victory since losing his middleweight title to Sean Strickland, and his last fight — a narrow defeat to Khamzat Chimaev — left a bitter taste.
Dricus Du Plessis (23-3) has not tasted victory since losing his middleweight title to Sean Strickland, and his last fight — a narrow defeat to Khamzat Chimaev — left a bitter taste. The 32-year-old South African remains, however, one of the division’s most dangerous fighters: raw power, questionable stamina but immense heart, and a commandable ability to turn around dire situations that commands respect.
Against Usman, ‘Stillknocks’ has a lot at stake. A third consecutive defeat would put him out of the title race for the long term – a threshold from which fighters rarely return in the middleweight division. A victory, on the other hand, would immediately put him back in the top three and reignite talk of a rematch against Strickland or Chimaev.
Usman: a leap into the unknown
Kamaru Usman (20-4) hasn’t fought since November 2024 and his defeat to Belal Muhammad for the welterweight title. The former under-77kg king, long regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, is making the big leap to the middleweight division. It’s a risky move at the age of 39, following two years of inactivity and with knees that have seen better days. The move up a weight class – highly unusual for a former welterweight champion – adds yet another unknown to a bout that is already packed with significance.
But ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ is no ordinary fighter. His elite wrestling, his control of the pace and his fighting IQ remain the gold standard. The question is simple: does the Usman of 2026 still have the legs to impose his will on a younger, heavier and potentially more explosive Du Plessis? Friday’s weigh-in will provide an initial indication of the Nigerian’s fitness, ahead of a long evening of anticipation.
An impressive card
Beyond the main event, the Oklahoma City card features several tantalising bouts. Jared Cannonier (18-9), a veteran still ranked in the middleweight division, takes on the young Englishman Christian Leroy Duncan (14-2) in what looks like a passing of the torch between two generations. Chase Hooper (16-5-1) returns to the cage to face Mitch Ramirez (8-3) in the lightweight division, whilst the ever-spectacular Michel Pereira will be looking to bounce back following his recent surprise cut from the UFC. Taken as a whole, this makes for a well-balanced programme, where the veterans’ experience is pitted against the youthful enthusiasm of the younger fighters.
In total, twelve bouts are on the programme, with the preliminary card kicking off at 10.00 pm (French time) and the main card starting at 1.00 am on the night between Saturday and Sunday. The event will be broadcast by RMC Sport in France.
What’s at stake
For both Du Plessis and Usman, Oklahoma City is no ordinary Fight Night. It is a fight for legitimacy, where the stakes go beyond simply winning the bout. The winner will be in a strong position to challenge for a place in the top three of the middleweight division; the loser will have to ask themselves whether their time has already passed. In a division where Islam Makhachev is lying in wait, ready to step up for a superfight, every position counts double and the calendar dictates its own sense of urgency.