With less than a month remaining, Dricus Du Plessis has kicked off the campaign for his cage return with a bold claim. The former UFC middleweight champion from South Africa is set to headline a UFC Fight Night event nearly 11 months after Khamzat Chimaev outwrestled him in Chicago to win the title. Scheduled on July 18 at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center, Du Plessis will face another former title holder, Kamaru Usman, in the main event.

The recent shuffle in the middleweight division, which saw Sean Strickland beat Chimaev and become a champion for the second time, gives Dricus Du Plessis an opening to reclaim his lost championship. However, the path to the matchup in the UFC’s official return to Oklahoma City for the first time since 2017 was far from straightforward, as he stressed recently. In sharp contrast to his enthusiasm, the UFC apparently needed a little more persuasion to secure Usman’s appearance.

“I know he didn’t want to sign the contract. I know that for a fact. You know, I spoke to the UFC, and they said, ‘We finally convinced him to sign.’ If you need convincing to sign, that’s a problem,” Du Plessis said on Fight Forecast. “But I can’t blame him. I would also not want to fight myself right now. It would be the smart move not to sign the fight, but you know, let’s go.”

While the exact details of those discussions remain unknown, Du Plessis’ comments point to the way the Nigerian-American fighter initially viewed the matchup. Beyond reflecting Du Plessis’ confidence in his own abilities, the remarks also align with concerns Kamaru Usman had previously expressed about the fight.

Speaking with friend and Pound4Pound co-host Henry Cejudo, Usman explained that Du Plessis had initially been presented to him as an alternate opponent. However, he appeared hesitant because, at this stage of his career, he wants to compete in fights that are “meaningful” to him, which, in his view, means positioning himself for another title shot.

Following his welterweight title defense against Colby Covington in 2021, Usman endured a three-fight losing streak that included back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards before a closely contested defeat to Khamzat Chimaev that also marked his middleweight debut. After a break that lasted nearly two years, Usman returned to welterweight in June 2025, when he secured a dominant decision win over Joaquin Buckley.

The fact that the matchup with Du Plessis marks his return to 185 pounds could be one of the reasons why there might have been a hesitation on his part that required a nudge from the UFC.

This isn’t the first time the South African has raised this point. More than a week ago, following reports suggesting DDP would headline the UFC Oklahoma City card opposite Kamaru Usman, the South African had claimed, “A little someone agreed to a fight, but actually signing the dotted line isn’t that easy when you know you’re just signing for a show purse.”

According to the former middleweight champion, it basically meant that Usman knew that he would lose and hence did not want to accept the fight just for the “show” money.

Dricus du Plessis vs. Kamaru Usman follows a similar pattern

It took another ten days before official confirmation about Kamaru Usman’s participation in the event was announced.

The prolonged wait for an official announcement also brought to mind a few recent occasions when the UFC took longer than expected to finalize major headliners.

One of the most notable examples was UFC 300. Despite putting together a stacked card months in advance, the promotion reportedly struggled to finalize a main event for its landmark April 2024 event. As speculation intensified, fans increasingly wondered who would ultimately headline the historic event.

The suspense ended on February 17, roughly two months before the card took place, when Dana White announced that Alex Pereira would defend his light heavyweight title against Jamahal Hill.

A similar situation unfolded ahead of UFC 317 as well. The promotion heavily marketed International Fight Week well in advance but waited until mid-May to officially confirm a headliner. The delay prompted weeks of speculation before Dana White eventually revealed Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title as the headliner.

Notably, both of those cases involved numbered pay-per-view events, whereas Du Plessis and Usman are set to headline a Fight Night card.

Now, with less than four weeks to go before the event unfolds in Oklahoma City, the doubts have finally been put to rest. Fans can turn their attention to what could be an interesting matchup between two former champions that has been building for months.