Du Plessis def. Usman
Dec · unanimous · 5:00
Du Plessis vs Usman — Middleweight · UFC Fight Night
What happened
Du Plessis found his range immediately and never gave it back. He wobbled Usman more than once inside the first two rounds with clubbing right hands and well-timed knees up the middle, and although Usman warmed into the fight and banked moments of his own, the pressure kept resetting. Du Plessis hurt him again in the fourth and coasted home from there, taking a one-sided 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 decision that returned the former middleweight champion to the win column after his title loss to Khamzat Chimaev.
- Du Plessis established the jab and leg kicks early, then landed a hard right hand to the temple that visibly wobbled Usman in round one.
- Knees up the middle were the recurring weapon — Du Plessis hurt Usman repeatedly across the opening two rounds.
- Usman found stretches of success as the fight wore on but could not turn them into sustained control.
- Du Plessis hurt Usman again in the fourth and managed the fifth to close out a clear five-round win.
- 50-45
- 49-46
- 49-46
Play-by-play source: UFC.com · UFC Oklahoma City results
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Signature moments
Signature moments
Who Called It?
How the analysts' picks held up once the cage door closed.
Caller scorecard: Adam Martin perfect call; Marcel Dorff perfect call; Ben Duffy called it; Keith Shillan perfect call; AJ called it; Half The Battle called it; DFS By The Numbers called it; JakeGerberMMA called it; James Lynch called it; Mike Finch missed.
9 of 10 nailed it · 3 nailed the finish ★.
The experts above are a lens, not credentials we conferred — analyst, fighter or betting desk.
Full analyst picks ↓
Adam Martin AnalystBetting desk called 8 of 9 Adam Martin: predicted Du Plessis · Decision. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Perfect call.
Expects Du Plessis to withstand Usman's takedown attempts, keep the fight standing, and outstrike him in a competitive five-round decision.
Track record: winner called in 8 of 9 resolved picks, 6 a perfect call.
Marcel Dorff Analyst called 7 of 9 Marcel Dorff: predicted Du Plessis · Decision. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Perfect call.
Expects Usman to have some wrestling success, but Du Plessis to perform better overall across five rounds.
Track record: winner called in 7 of 9 resolved picks, 5 a perfect call.
Ben Duffy Analyst called 9 of 10 Ben Duffy: predicted Du Plessis · KO/TKO · R5. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Hit.
Expects Usman to have some early success, but Du Plessis' volume and pace to take over and produce a late fifth-round TKO.
Track record: winner called in 9 of 10 resolved picks, 6 a perfect call.
Keith Shillan Analyst called 8 of 10 Keith Shillan: predicted Du Plessis · Decision. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Perfect call.
Views Du Plessis as the naturally bigger fighter and expects Usman's age and knees to make a five-round decision difficult for him.
Track record: winner called in 8 of 10 resolved picks, 6 a perfect call.
AJ Betting deskAnalyst called 24 of 30 AJ: predicted Du Plessis · KO/TKO. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Hit.
Takes Du Plessis by knockout, believing he has enough left to handle Usman with power and pressure.
Track record: winner called in 24 of 30 resolved picks, 15 a perfect call.
Half The Battle Analyst called 12 of 19 Half The Battle: predicted Du Plessis · to win. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Hit.
Takes Du Plessis to finish Usman after the late rounds, expecting his pressure to make Usman's wrestling harder to sustain.
Track record: winner called in 12 of 19 resolved picks, 2 a perfect call.
DFS By The Numbers Betting deskAnalyst called 32 of 47 DFS By The Numbers: predicted Du Plessis · to win. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Hit.
Backs Du Plessis to produce the bigger striking moments and doubts Usman can sustain control.
Track record: winner called in 32 of 47 resolved picks, 13 a perfect call.
JakeGerberMMA Analyst called 8 of 10 JakeGerberMMA: predicted Du Plessis · to win. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Hit.
Takes Du Plessis in a competitive matchup, expecting the layoff to have addressed his defensive wrestling.
Track record: winner called in 8 of 10 resolved picks.
James Lynch Analyst called 9 of 10 James Lynch: predicted Du Plessis · to win. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Hit.
Takes Du Plessis by decision, while acknowledging Usman's style could create problems.
Track record: winner called in 9 of 10 resolved picks.
Mike Finch Betting deskAnalyst called 19 of 31 Mike Finch: predicted Usman · to win. Actual Du Plessis · Dec. Result: Miss.
Backs Usman's chain wrestling and control after questioning Du Plessis' defensive wrestling against a disciplined opponent.
Track record: winner called in 19 of 31 resolved picks, 8 a perfect call.
Odds
How the market called it — the final pre-fight line against the result, not betting advice.
Market read · 7 sportsbooks
Favoured: Plessis (65%) Called it
Plessis def. Usman · Dec
Archive
Pre-fight material — kept for transparency, folded by default.
Tale of the Tape
Records & career stats — as they entered fight night
- 23-3-0
- Record
- 21-4-0
- 4-1 last 5
- Recent formRecent formWin–loss record over the fighter’s last five bouts, newest first, as carried in their UFC/FightMetric career stats.
- 2-3 last 5
- Orthodox
- StanceStanceWhich side a fighter leads from — a striking term, not a religious one. Orthodox: right-handed, left foot and hand forward (the common default). Southpaw: the mirror image, right side forward (usually a left-hander). Switch: changes between the two during a fight.
- Orthodox
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- Sig. strikes landed / minStrikes / minSignificant strikes landed per minuteAverage number of significant strikes a fighter lands for every minute of fight time — a read on striking output and pace. From UFC/FightMetric career stats.
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- —
- Sig. strikes absorbed / minAbsorbed / minSignificant strikes absorbed per minuteAverage number of significant strikes a fighter takes for every minute of fight time. Lower is better — it means they get hit less often. From UFC/FightMetric career stats.
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- —
- Striking defenseStrike def.Striking defenseThe percentage of opponents’ significant strikes that do not land — strikes slipped, blocked or evaded. Higher is better. Not the same as striking accuracy, which counts your own strikes that land. From UFC/FightMetric.
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- Takedown defenseTD def.Takedown defenseThe percentage of opponents’ takedown attempts that are stuffed. Higher means harder to put on the mat. From UFC/FightMetric.
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- Avg. fight timeAvg. timeAverage fight timeThe mean length of the fighter’s bouts (minutes:seconds) — a rough read on whether they tend to finish early or go the distance. From UFC/FightMetric.
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- South Africa
- Nationality
- Nigeria
- CIT MMA
- Team
- Blackzilians - Boca Raton, FL
Career stats per UFC.com; recent form is each fighter's last five bouts. Numbers reflect records coming into fight night. Bars compare each stat on a fixed scale; the “Edge” marker flags the leading corner where the gap is meaningful. The snapshot plots five career rates — output, striking defense, durability (strikes absorbed, inverted), takedown defense and finish rate — each normalised on its own scale.
Pre-fight analysis — how we saw it going in
Case for Du Plessis
Du Plessis wins on pressure, pace and finishing. He took the middleweight title off Israel Adesanya and defended it twice against Sean Strickland, and his 87% finish rate — 11 of his 23 wins by submission — comes from an awkward, relentless volume that drowns opponents into the championship rounds. Against a 39-year-old climbing up in weight, five rounds of that pace is the great equalizer.
Case for Usman
Usman wins if his wrestling still fires at 185. One of the most dominant welterweight champions the division has seen, he is built on suffocating top control and a jab — a single submission against eleven decisions tells you he grinds rather than gambles. Du Plessis's one clear vulnerability is exactly Usman's best weapon: Khamzat Chimaev out-wrestled DDP, and if Usman can put him on the mat and hold him there, the pressure never gets going.
What We Were Watching For
- The wrestling exchanges: Chimaev exposed Du Plessis's takedown defense — can a 39-year-old Usman still shoot and hold top position at a new, heavier weight?
- Pace vs age: Du Plessis's five-round pressure against Usman moving up a division at 39 — does the tank empty late?
- The shared Chimaev loss: both men were beaten by Khamzat Chimaev; whose loss looks more fixable in this matchup?
- Usman's output: he is 2-3 in his last five and hasn't finished a fight in years — can he win rounds without banking control time?
Fight News
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UFC Oklahoma City: Undefeated newcomers finalize Dricus du Plessis vs. Kamaru Usman fight card also covered by Yahoo Sports MMA -
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