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Former UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis got back into the win column with a unanimous decision victory over ex-welterweight titleholder Kamaru Usman atop the UFC Oklahoma fight card last weekend on Paramount+, the first time we’ve seen either combatant since 2025.
Following the fight, Usman suggested an errant thumb to the eye may have contributed to his inability to get out of first gear. It also didn’t help that Du Plessis was a “big boy” with “weird, rangy shots.”
“I couldn’t get going,” Usman said in the post-fight press conference. “He was big, he was strong, he was rangy. So, it was a little tough to get going. I took kind of a thumb-punch in the eye early on, and that kind of blurred the vision a bit. But no excuses. It is what it is. I was pretty compromised. Like I said, he’s a big boy, and when you start seeing two of the big boys, and he’s got kind of a weird, rangy shots. So it’s a little delayed to get out of the way of those shots, seeing them. But no excuses. It’s tough to be on this side. I’m not used to being on this side. So yeah, it kind of sucks.”
Coach Morne Visser, known for his bizarre takes, has no time for that “nonsense.”
“The gameplan was 100 percent to completely stay composed and that’s what he did,” Visser told Submission Radio. “Obviously, he listens very well to me, so I’ve never, ever pushed him through the whole fight to push for the finish. I saw that Kamaru does recover very quickly after getting hit that hard and punched that hard in the face. I mean, he was out a couple of times on his feet, but I shouted very loudly to Dricus to stay composed and pick the shots, because a guy who recovers that quickly is dangerous, he’s desperate.”
Usman holds knockout wins over Jorge Masvidal and Gilbert Burns, among others.
“I am super, super happy with our results,” Visser continued. “I think this is the best I’ve seen Dricus ever. This was a high pressure fight. I mean, this was our comeback fight after 10, 11 months off. So, I’m very happy. And he listened, we never pushed for anything. We never pushed once for the finish, not even once. I mean, you saw Kamaru complaining about a low blow and the thumb or the finger, all nonsense, because we could have finished him there, but he was just not pushing. He was just respectful.”
I guess his respect is more important than an extra $25,000.
Du Plessis, 32, improved to 24-3 with his victory over Usman but may not be in line for a shot at the title he lost to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 last summer in Chicago. That all depends on what matchmakers plan to do with current 185-pound titleholder Sean Strickland, who reclaimed the crown at UFC 328.
