Story perspectives

Usman vs. du Plessis Set for July 18 UFC Showdown.

7/17/2026

Summary

Usman Faces Du Plessis

Kamaru Usman will face middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis on July 18, 2026 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Du Plessis (No. 2, –245) comes off a unanimous-decision loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319, with Usman (No. 9, +200) rebounding via a June 14, 2025 win over Joaquin Buckley.
Having beaten Sean Strickland, du Plessis says a win could earn title shot while Usman calls a victory a ‘no-brainer’ for bout with Strickland or Islam Makhachev.

Summary

Du Plessis Defends

Dricus Du Plessis submitted former champion Israel Adesanya with a neck crank in round 4 of UFC 305, defending his middleweight title.
The victory marked Du Plessis’s first successful title defense, cementing his hold on the division.
The fight was promoted as a marquee clash between the reigning champion and a division legend, drawing wide fan interest.
The neck-crank finish was among the rare submission outcomes in middleweight title fights in 2024.

History

Historical Context

In 2016 Michael Bisping stepped in on ten days' notice to challenge UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 205, winning by knockout and becoming the promotion’s first British champion. Rockhold, a former Strikeforce champion who earned a $50,000 Knockout-of-the-Night bonus in 2014, had risen through the UFC after Strikeforce’s 2013 closure. The upset reinforced the division’s history of rapid title turnover.

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Usman Faces Du Plessis

Kamaru Usman will face middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis on July 18, 2026 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Du Plessis (No. 2, –245) comes off a unanimous-decision loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319, with Usman (No. 9, +200) rebounding via a June 14, 2025 win over Joaquin Buckley.
Having beaten Sean Strickland, du Plessis says a win could earn title shot while Usman calls a victory a ‘no-brainer’ for bout with Strickland or Islam Makhachev.

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