{"id":39338,"date":"2026-07-17T05:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Du-Plessis-Usman-are-fighting-for-more-than-a-win-at-UFC-OKC-201945"},"modified":"2026-07-17T05:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:24:14","slug":"du-plessis-usman-are-fighting-for-more-than-a-win-at-ufc-okc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/du-plessis-usman-are-fighting-for-more-than-a-win-at-ufc-okc\/","title":{"rendered":"Du Plessis, Usman are fighting for more than a win at UFC OKC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Dricus Du
\nPlessis<\/a> believes that the winner of his upcoming bout deserves
\nto fight Sean
\nStrickland<\/a> next for the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> middleweight title.<\/p>\n

The South African is set to face fellow former champion Kamaru
\nUsman<\/a> in the main event of
\nUFC Oklahoma City<\/a> on July 18. With both fighters gunning for
\nanother outing against current champ Strickland, du Plessis has
\nlaid out his case for a title shot.<\/p>\n

\n

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

Dricus Du Plessis explains his path back to Sean
\nStrickland<\/h2>\n

Ahead of his fight with Usman, du Plessis discussed the title
\npicture at middleweight. When asked whether the winner of his next
\nbout should fight for the belt next, “Stillknocks” replied in the
\naffirmative, citing how he already has two wins over
\nStrickland.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, because I have defended my belt against two of the
\nbest fighters in the world, the current champion being one of
\nthem,\u201d du Plessis said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

However, a win might not be enough, as du Plessis added that the
\nmanner of the victory could also determine who fights for the
\nchampionship.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I don\u2019t think it’s about the fight,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s about the
\nperformance between myself and Usman. Both of us are putting our
\nhands out for that title shot and deservedly so. It will all come
\ndown to the winner and the fashion that you do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

While du Plessis is coming off a one-sided decision loss to
\nKhamzat
\nChimaev<\/a>, which saw him lose his title, he\u2019s eager to fight
\nStrickland a third time. Usman also holds a win over the current
\n185-pound king, having defeated him when they were up-and-coming
\nwelterweights nearly a decade ago. Furthermore, Chimaev and
\ntop-ranked contender Nassourdine
\nImavov<\/a> are also in the mix, two fighters who\u2019ve already lost to
\nStrickland.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Should the winner of Saturday night’s main
\nevent get the next title shot against Sean
\nStrickland<\/a>?<\/p>\n[ #UFCOKC<\/a>
\nJuly 18 | LIVE on @paramountplus<\/a>
\n] pic.twitter.com\/RI81NPu8V1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
\nJuly 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dricus Du Plessis believes that the winner of his upcoming bout deserves to fight Sean Strickland next for the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title. The South African is set to face fellow former champion Kamaru Usman in the main event of UFC Oklahoma City on July 18. With both fighters gunning for another outing against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}