{"id":39134,"date":"2026-07-07T04:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T04:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Dricus-du-Plessis-says-Kamaru-Usman-needed-convincing-to-sign-fight-201787"},"modified":"2026-07-07T04:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T04:27:11","slug":"dricus-du-plessis-says-kamaru-usman-needed-convincing-to-sign-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/dricus-du-plessis-says-kamaru-usman-needed-convincing-to-sign-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Dricus du Plessis says Kamaru Usman needed convincing to sign fight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Dricus Du
\nPlessis<\/a> has accused former
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> titleholder Kamaru
\nUsman<\/a> of delaying their bout.<\/p>\n

While Usman and du Plessis are now confirmed to be squaring off at
\n
\nUFC Oklahoma City<\/a> on July 18, the latter claims \u201cThe Nigerian
\nNightmare\u201d wasn\u2019t keen on the matchup. Ahead of the two former
\nchampions\u2019 clash, du Plessis has revealed that the UFC had to
\nconvince Usman to sign the contract.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dricus Du Plessis claims Kamaru Usman didn\u2019t want UFC fight
\ncontract<\/h2>\n

The UFC Oklahoma City main event announcement was left until the
\n11th hour, despite du Plessis claiming weeks earlier that he\u2019d been
\noffered a fight and was waiting for his opponent to sign the
\ncontract. With the Fight Night headlining bout now confirmed,
\n\u201cStillknocks\u201d has opened up about how it came together.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t want to sign the contract. I know that for a fact,\u201d du
\nPlessis said in an interview with Fight Forecast. \u201cI spoke to the
\nUFC and they said, \u2018We finally convinced him to sign.\u2019 If you need
\nconvincing to sign, that\u2019s a problem, but I can\u2019t blame him. I
\nwould also not want to fight me right now. It would be the smart
\nmove not to sign the fight, but let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Usman is a couple of years removed from his dominant
\nwelterweight title run, du Plessis isn\u2019t counting out the
\nNigerian-American, especially considering how Usman\u2019s teammate
\nJustin
\nGaethje<\/a> defeated the far younger Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> at
\nUFC Freedom 250<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about the fight for a long time. He\u2019s mentioned
\nthe fight way before we made the fight and I said, \u2018Well, cool.
\nI\u2019ll take that fight.\u2019 Now people will say, \u2018Why don\u2019t you fight
\n[Nassourdine] Imavov?\u2019 I don\u2019t mind that fight either,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cI want to fight somebody that gets me to my title again. Kamaru
\nUsman<\/a>, yes, he\u2019s a bit older, but now you look at what [Justin]\nGaethje just did, so that throws that argument out the window
\nimmediately.\u201d<\/p>\n