UFC Oklahoma City: Du Plessis vs Usman - Jul 18 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

Get the BBQ sauce out. It’s slobberknocker time. We’re in Jim Ross country…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Dricus Du Plessis vs Kamaru Usman 

Jared Cannonier vs Christian Leroy Duncan 

Chase Hooper vs Mitch Ramirez 

Tabatha Ricci vs Fatima Kline

Tommy McMillen vs Alberto Montes 

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS
Jose Delgado vs Austin Bashi 

Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani vs Seok Hyeon Ko

Felipe Franco vs Levi Rodrigues Jr 

Damien Anderson vs Ezra Elliott 

Alden Coria vs Stewart Nicoll

Alvin Hines vs RJ Harris 

Dione Barbosa vs Anna Melisano

 

 

Almost a one match card really. Almost. There are a couple of fights and fighters I like on there but, overall, yeah the headliner is doing all the heavy lifting on this one. Oh well at least it’s in front of a proper crowd. Not sure if this is the final bout order but it’s how Marcel Dorff has it currently so it’ll do for now. As usual I’ll edit this post if/when the changes happen. It’s only just over a week away now so hopefully there won’t be any changes but it’s MMA, you know how it goes. 

 

 

Dricus Du Plessis vs Kamaru Usman headlines this one. A South African against a Nigerian…in Oklahoma. Alright then. This fight was only announced in late June so, on the surface, it seems like it’s been thrown together less than a month out. But it had been rumoured for ages so I guess they both agreed to it and started camp a while back before it was all made official. I like the fight. And because it only recently got confirmed, it feels like it’s snuck up on us quickly. Both are coming in with something to prove here. DDP is still at #2 in the Middleweight rankings but he’s coming off losing his title. And Usman isn’t even ranked and he’s trying to make one last run at a second division’s gold. 

Du Plessis really could do with a strong bounce back here. It’s amazing how quickly one bad loss can completely kill a fighter’s buzz. DDP came into the UFC in 2020 having already been a KSW champion and a two weight EFC champion in Africa. He then went on a nine fight streak in the UFC which included wins over Darren Till, Derek Brunson, bashing up Robert Whittaker, taking the title off Sean Strickland, submitting Israel Adesanya and beating Strickland again in the rematch. He became quite popular, partly due to his amusingly weird style that for some reason just kept working. And partly because he went 2-0 over Strickland and normal people enjoy seeing cunts lose. I was slow to get on board with DDP and I really wasn’t convinced by him until he beat Whittaker. That really surprised me at the time and, while I’d dismissed him as a bit of a limited goof before, I kind of had to reassess my opinion on him after that. He had quite a run. That came to a sudden halt last August, when he lost the title and got absolutely dominated by Khamzat Chimaev in the process.

A disaster of a fight for Du Plessis. Complete one way traffic. 50-44 scorecards across the board. And it wasn’t just the loss itself that was bad, DDP’s performance was piss poor as well. Obviously we know Khamzat has the type of grappling game where he can overwhelm a lot of opponents. But Du Plessis had zero answers for anything and at points it genuinely seemed like he’d came in with the belief that he’d be able to simply brute strength his way out of any trouble in the wrestling. Bad, bad mistake. It also hasn’t helped that Khamzat then went on to lose the belt in his very first defence, to DDP’s old pal Strickland of all people.

Usman is one of the best Welterweights in UFC history. He was no GSP but he’s probably only second behind him all time at 170. I think he surpassed Matt Hughes for the spot. Former champ with wins over Covington twice, Masvidal twice, Burns, Woodley, Dos Anjos, Maia and even current 185 champ Strickland way back in 2017. But he’s at Middleweight now, he’s 39 years old, he’s had well documented problems with his knees for years and he’s coming into this fight off a 13 month layoff. He hasn’t been very active at all in recent years. He had those back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards in 2022/23, which signified the end of his time on the Welterweight thrown. Then in late 2023, he jumped in on short notice, up at Middleweight, against Khamzat and lost on points. But it was one of those fights where it actually raised his stock even in defeat. He managed to weather the first round storm of Khamzat and arguably won the second and third rounds. They were close anyway. He made Khamzat look human at a time when he was maybe the most feared man on the roster. And he did it up in weight and on short notice. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to capitalise on that though, he missed all of 2024 and didn’t return until June 2025, beating Joaquin Buckley by decision in a fight that was kind of impressive given Usman’s age and inactivity, but Buckley proved to be really lacking in the wrestling so it was probably a bit of a favourable matchup for Usman style-wise too.

Oddly, before this fight was booked, Usman was pushing hard to get the next title shot against Islam Makhachev. I don’t blame him for trying but, fuck me, one win in the last four years and he was expecting a title shot? There was some talk that Usman was stalling in negotiations for this DDP fight and wasn’t keen on it. I’m glad it got done in the end though.

“He didn’t want to sign the contract. The UFC said they finally convinced him to sign. If you need convincing to sign, that’s a problem. I can’t blame him. I also wouldn’t want to fight me right now.” - Dricus Du Plessis

As you’d expect, Usman didn’t take too kindly to that kind of talk.

“Here’s the thing, and the fans really know this, what possible MMA fan can see my name and say I’m scared? He can say whatever he wants to say. But he’s talking to the guy who flew across the world on 6-7 days notice to fight Khamzat. Fought across the world again when Jorge Masvidal was coming off the flying knee against Ben Askren. So to sit there and say I’m scared? Come on now. I will whoop anybody. Anybody can get it. I don’t discriminate with these hands.” - Kamaru Usman

It seems like Du Plessis still has a knack for getting under his opponents skin, doesn’t it? He might be the best troll in the game. You know he doesn’t believe Usman was trembling with fear signing the contract but he knows just the right buttons to press saying stuff like that. We saw similar in the buildup to the Adesanya fight and definitely when he had Strickland crying on some podcast before their first fight. I think it’s gonna be pretty tame with Usman though. Saying “he was scared to sign the contract” is probably as rough as it’s gonna get. There’s no real beef there. Although, it hasn’t been mentioned but there probably is an element of a revenge factor in the back of Usman’s head here, considering he’s close friends with Izzy.

Looking forward to this but I really don’t know what to expect. I mean, you’d think Du Plessis should win. He’s the more established Middleweight, he’s the younger man, fresher, not as banged up etc. But at the same time, his defensive wrestling looked so lacking in that Khamzat fight last time and wrestling is obviously Usman’s bread and butter. Even Usman’s layoff, DDP’s been on the sidelines almost just as long. He’ll have been out 11 months by the time he steps into the Octagon here. But then there’s the question we always have on Usman these days, how will his knees hold up? How bad are they? Seeing how he did in the last couple of rounds against Khamzat and then watching him handle Buckley fairly easily, I feel like the ‘bad knees’ stuff might be slightly overplayed. But he’s another year older now on top of that and Du Plessis should be a significantly harder fight for him than Buckley was. We’ll see. I like the fight though and it should hopefully provide some answers on if DDP has made any improvements in his wrestling since Khamzat mauled him. He’s never gonna completely fix it but that fight made it clear that it’s the biggest weakness in his game.

 

Jared Cannonier vs Christian Leroy Duncan is a pretty solid Fight Night co-main. Cannonier has surely gotta be closing in on retirement at this point though? He’s 42 years old now and has lost three of his last four fights. He’s had his moments over the years and has wins over some good names. Although, with context, some of the wins weren’t as good in reality as they look on paper. Like he has a win over Anderson Silva but it was in 2019 when Anderson was clearly past his best. He also took a split decision off Sean Strickland at the end of 2022 but it was an awful fight and I vaguely remember thinking Strickland probably edged it. He’s been decent though, Cannonier. Tough guy. Also has wins over Hermansson, Gastelum, Brunson, Vettori. And he stopped Robocop Rodrigues in the fourth round of a bit of a dogfight last year. That was his last win though. He comes into this fight off a frustrating points loss against Michael Venom Page last August. CLD is the much younger man at 30, and he’s 14-2 and on a four fight win streak. He beat Roman Dolidze by decision on the London card in March. Timing-wise and with the trajectories of both men’s careers, it feels like CLD should be winning this. Got a feeling this might be the night when Cannonier really looks his age in there.

 

Chase Hooper vs Mitch Ramirez is just there really. I’m neither here nor there on it. I get the impression the UFC and the matchmakers like Hooper and this feels like they’re trying to rebuild him a bit here. He came into the UFC really young and he’s had his ups and downs but things were going quite well for him once he moved up to Lightweight in 2023. He won a bunch of fights after that and beat veterans like Clay Guida and Jim Miller along the way. It’s gone badly wrong in his last couple of fights though. He’s been stopped by Alexander Hernandez and Lance Gibson Jr back-to-back now. Both in the first round. He’s still only 26 but I just feel like he’s already hit his ceiling. Not everyone is gonna be a contender. I barely remember Ramirez but he’s also coming off a couple of losses. He’s 33 years old, 8-3 with 7 finishes, has been very inactive and hasn’t won a fight in three years. Yeah, they’ve definitely set this up for Hooper to get back on track.

 

Tabatha Ricci vs Fatima Kline is a bit of a weird one because I’m really not expecting it to be a very exciting fight to watch but I’m interested to see how Kline does. I’ve liked what I’ve seen out of her so far in the UFC but Ricci tends to drag opponents into dull fights. Even the women who have beaten Ricci in the UFC, with the exception of Manon Fiorot who stopped her years ago, they never really look great doing it. She’s 12-4 now and just lost on points to Virna Jandiroba in April. Kline turns 26 just days before this fight. She’s 9-1 with the only blemish being a decision loss to Jasmine Jasudavicius in 2024. But in fairness, that was 1) up in weight at Flyweight, 2) on short notice and 3) her UFC debut. Since then she’s returned to Strawweight and rattled off three wins. Two by TKO and then a decision over Angela Hill last time out on the MSG card in November. If she beats Ricci and manages to look impressive doing it, we might actually have a real prospect at Strawweight on our hands.

 

Tommy McMillen vs Alberto Montes should be worth a look. If you remember, McMillen is Sean O’Malley’s buddy, protégé, rip-off. He’s one fight into his UFC career and they already seem to be trying to force him as a future ‘star’.

He’s 28 years old and has an undefeated record of 10-0 with 9 of his wins coming inside the distance. Won his fight on DWCS by decision last September, then made his UFC debut at the Apex in April and put Manolo Zecchini away in a round. All sounds good so far and he might well have some potential. But Christ, I remember the commentators laying it on thick as if we were witnessing something mind blowing. Bisping banging on about him being a “superstar” and all that. He didn’t even look that great from what I remember. Don’t get me wrong it was entertaining to watch but he was sloppy as fuck and was swinging with zero defence. He seems like one of those fighters who will be worth watching just because he’s reckless and wild, but he’ll probably come unstuck unless he tightens things up big time. Can’t remember much of Montes. He’s Venezuelan, 32 years old and 12-1 with 8 finishes. He made his UFC debut in March and subbed Ricky Turcios.

 

Jose Delgado vs Austin Bashi might be alright. Delgado’s an exciting, action fighter from what I remember. He’s 28 years old and 11-2 with 10 finishes. Scored a quick KO in his UFC debut but he first got on my radar with his 26 second knockout over previously unbeaten Hyder Amil last June. Since then he’s lost a decision against Nathaniel Wood and won a decision against Andre Fili. Both very enjoyable fights. I don’t see him as a future champ or anything but I’ve seen enough to know that I’ll be making the effort to make sure I catch his fights going forward. I’m less familiar with Bashi. He’s 24 and has a 14-1 record. His lone defeat was against Christian Rodriguez in January 2025 but he rebounded with a first round submission over John Yannis in August.

 

Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani vs Seok Hyeon Ko. Yeah, I’m just gonna have to run through records and shit for some of these prelims. Not even saying they’ll be bad fights, there’s just nothing to talk about. Lebosnoyani is 27 years old with a 10-1 record, 8 finishes. He won via headkick on DWCS back in September, made his UFC debut in February and took a split decision off Phil Rowe. South Korea’s Ko is 32 years old and 13-2 with 6 coming by KO/TKO. He’s also coming off a points win over Phil Rowe and he beat Oban Elliott in his previous fight which was his UFC debut. I vaguely recall seeing that Elliott fight and thinking Ko looked pretty good. That’s about the extent of my knowledge on these two though, I’m afraid.

 

Felipe Franco vs Levi Rodrigues Jr. Again, no idea. Franco debuted on the London card in March and I remember a lot of talk going in that he was a bum and an awful signing. So when he was matched up against Mario Pinto, who was thought to be one of the more promising UK Heavyweights, I think most expected a squash match. Pinto did win but it was an absolute turd of a fight, one of the worst of the year so far. I couldn’t tell whether Pinto had been overrated going in or Franco had been underrated, but the truth is they both looked shite. Not much you can even take away from it. Rodrigues is making his first Octagon appearance here. He’s 29 years old, 5-0-0-1 with 5 knockouts. He’s coming off a No Contest on DWCS though. I looked into it and apparently he originally won by KO then got popped for PEDs and the result got overturned. Smashing start to his UFC career there.

 

Damien Anderson vs Ezra Elliott has been thrown onto the card at the last minute. Always weird to me when fights get added to cards just a few days before show time, but I’m guessing the fight was in the works for a bit maybe, surely these guys had some kind of training camp? Anyway, it’s the UFC debut for both, both are undefeated and both have a 100% finish rate. From bits I’m reading, Anderson is from a BJJ background, he’s 29 years old, 5-0 and won his last fight via kneebar in February. Elliott is another teammate of Sean O’Malley. He’s 26 years old, 7-0 and coming off a first round TKO win back in May. Interesting that they’d book two unbeaten newcomers against each other right off the bat here but I’ll give it a look.

 

Alden Coria vs Stewart Nicoll. I know I’ve seen both of these two fight but there’s fuck all jumping out in the memory about either of them. Coria’s 28 years old and 12-3-0-1 with 9 finishes. Made his UFC debut in September, TKOing Alessandro Costa. Then won a decision against Luis Gurule in February. Nicoll’s Aussie, 31 years old and 8-3 with 7 finishes. He’s gone an abysmal 0-3 so far in the UFC and got stopped by a body shot in his last fight in April.

 

Alvin Hines vs RJ Harris. Not a clue but it’s Heavyweight MMA so don’t expect much. Hines is 34 years old and 7-1 with 6 finishes. He made his UFC debut last June and I remember thinking he looked like someone’s Dad won a competition to play UFC fighter for the day. He looked well happy as well. Made me wanna root for him. Unfortunately he got beat up en route to a decision loss against Jhonata Diniz but I actually recall quite enjoying it. And to be fair, Hines took that fight on short notice. Never heard of Harris but Sherdog tells me he’s 27 and undefeated at 5-0 with 4 not requiring judges.

 

Dione Barbosa vs Anna Melisano. Dunno. This was supposed to be Barbosa against Veronica Hardy, which I’d have at least have had a tiny bit of interest in. I’m not familiar enough with Barbosa though and I’ve never heard of Melisano. Going through the motions, Barbosa is Brazilian, 34 years old and 9-4 with 4 submissions. She’s been rotating wins and losses for her entire five fight UFC stint. Melisano steps in on short notice and was apparently on TUF at some point going off that pic. She’s 29 years old and 6-1 with 3 finishes. That’s about it.

 

 

Bah gawd.

Edited July 18 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

That top 3 is solid shit. 

Alvin Hines disappeared because he failed a drug test after his debut. Admitted he didn't disclose something on his pre-fight forms. Surprised they are giving him another shot.

[wandshogun09]

One bastard day after posting the thread and my ‘one to watch’ is down the shitter. Piss off. 

[wandshogun09]

Updated the opening post with latest bout order and the removal of Holland vs Smith due to Holland pulling out. They either weren’t able to find a short notice replacement or decided against it so Jacobe Smith’s off the card as well. Maybe they’ll just rebook that fight for a later date.

Oh and they added a fight (Anderson vs Elliott) just a few days out for some reason. Both making their debut, both undefeated, both finishers. 

Edited July 16 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Ezra Elliott is another Sean O'Malley protege.

The McMillen/Montes fight im looking forward too, those two guy are out there acting like their headlining this thing.

[wandshogun09]

Quite looking forward to this now it’s nearly here. I really like the main event and, despite the feeling that Usman’s been on his last (reportedly disintegrating) legs for ages now, I’m not sure how much truth there is to that. He dealt with Buckley pretty easily last year from what I remember. Granted, Buckley’s lacking in the wrestling so that made Usman’s job easier, but Usman still went five rounds and looked solid from what I remember. I still think DDP beats him but it could be an interesting one to watch because it should hopefully give us a read on whether DDP’s made any progress in the wrestling department since that horrible showing against Khamzat.

Undercard is nothing amazing but it’s alright. Got a feeling Cannonier might look old in there tonight for some reason. CLD’s got the kind of style that I think could make him look bad. Hoping Fatima Kline gets an impressive win over Tabatha Ricci as well. The Strawweight division could do with new blood and Kline’s one of the few who genuinely looks promising. Ricci’s boring as well. Looks great at the weigh ins, then the cage door shuts and the show is over. 

While I’m here, the usual fight day graphics…

Edited July 18 by wandshogun09

[Dai]

Wasnt a bad show, this. Few quick thoughts:

- I said before this one that Usman was screwed, and he was. Not going to rag on his performance too much, as hes a 40 year old guy who has moved up a division, and was fighting one of the best. Logically, it was exactly the performance youd expect from him. No idea where he goes next. Just make some nice cash without getting too hurt or having to cut a load of weight for the next few years would be the best idea.

DDP looked decent, but cant read too much into his performance again a past it Usman. The most interesting point I can think of is that despite DC (who had another mare) saying he has insane cardio, he was still gassed in R5, despite it being a very one sided standup fight, with no grappling. Could be an issue for him in the future. 

 

- Standout of the main card was McMillen. Great, Diaz-esque performance from him. I know its not the only thing to focus on, but it was interesting to note that despite throwing a record amount of punches, that his opponent didnt actually look too bad visually after three rounds. Still, great performance, and I hope hes working on his takedown defence, as its pretty obvious where the path to victory will be against him.

 

- "Flow state" is my new hated term. Instead of a fighter doing well and performing well, it now seems its better to say they are in a "flow state". Bisping is the main offender for this. Just say they are doing well!

- Gif request of Wand of those douche men in the crowd just before R1 started of the McMillen fight. Three plebs who you would have nightmares about if you were sitting anywhere near them. Not as bad as Just Bleed guy, but close.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, solid performance from DDP in the main event. It might not have been perfect but considering the absolute disaster he was coming off against Khamzat last time, it was a good rebound. That was the type of loss that could’ve completely fucked him mentally so getting five pretty dominant rounds in against a former champ was a positive way to bounce back. I’d like to see Usman call it a day now, to be honest. Can’t be too harsh on him because there’s no shame in losing to DDP. But I just don’t know where Usman goes from here. Even if he drops back to Welterweight, for what? He already conquered that division in his prime, he’s never gonna recreate that title reign at pushing 40 and on gammy knees. And he got rocked or wobbled pretty much every single round here. Not a good sign. Not sure what DDP does next either. He’s 2-0 over current champ Strickland but does anyone really wanna see a third go around of that? There’s Imavov but he should really be getting the next crack at Strickland. Who does that leave? Joe Pyfer? Brendan Allen? He’s gonna have to fight down in ranking regardless because I doubt they do DDP vs Strickland 3 and nobody wants to see a DDP vs Khamzat rematch. I would’ve liked to have seen DDP vs De Ridder myself. As ugly as that could be I wanted to see it just for the LOLs. But De Ridder’s off to 205.

Christian Leroy Duncan looked good in the co-main. It was against an old Cannonier but I thought CLD was doing some good stuff here. Would’ve been a big statement if he managed to force a finish but Cannonier is durable as fuck, even now in his 40s. He’s only been finished once at 185 and that was against Imavov, which I could be misremembering but I vaguely recall being a questionable stoppage. He’s granite tough. CLD schooled him really. Thought he looked huge in there next to Cannonier as well. Which is crazy when you realise Cannonier is the one who came down from Heavyweight to Light Heavyweight to Middleweight. I’ve said it before but CLD is basically a much more watchable version of MVP but never gets the attention or hype MVP does. Not sure who CLD gets next. Maybe the winner of the upcoming Fluffy vs Robocop fight? Outside chance he gets the Izzy fight?

Fatima Kline stays undefeated at Strawweight and beat Tabatha Ricci comfortably. Dominant performance. It’s rare anyone looks good against Ricci. Even if they beat her, she seems to drag them into a nothing happening snoozer. Kline made this worthwhile though.

I’m a fan. Shame she never got the finish because that would’ve obviously made it a much stronger statement. But Kline’s literally just turned 26 a few days ago, there’s no rush. I like that she’s starting to show a bit of personality now and a bit of an edge. As you see above, she was more animated in the fight than we’ve ever seen her before. And she must’ve name dropped pretty much every top Strawweight as potential opponents in her post-fight interview. She seemed quite laid back and almost shy from what I remember in previous interviews. I don’t know what’s lit a match under her arse but I like this more aggressive and vocal side of her. She’s at #6 in the rankings now after this win. Not sure who they give her next but, looking at the names above her, the ones who are not currently booked are Tatiana Suarez, Virna Jandiroba and Zhang Weili. I definitely wouldn’t rush her in with Zhang yet and I doubt they will. Zhang’s probably getting a title shot on her return, if she even wants to drop back to Strawweight. Kline against either Suarez or Jandiroba would be interesting tests though.

Tommy McMillen had another fun scrap. Still don’t see his ceiling being very high but you can tell he’s gonna be one of those guys who’s in wild fights pretty much every time. And he did answer one question here, he can definitely take a shot. Because what the fuck?…

That’s not photoshop or AI. Montes landed that knee clean and McMillen somehow just soaked it up then went on to get the late finish himself…

Really entertaining fight. Should’ve got FOTN in my opinion and I was sure it would. They gave FOTN to DDP vs Usman, which I don’t get at all. This was more exciting, a bit more competitive and there was a finish. Easily stole the show and they gave it to the main event? I don’t get it. Especially when you consider that these guys would also be making a lot less money than DDP and Usman as it is. That bonus money would’ve made a big difference to McMillen and Montes, and they deserved it.

On 7/20/2026 at 3:10 PM, Dai said:

- Gif request of Wand of those douche men in the crowd just before R1 started of the McMillen fight. Three plebs who you would have nightmares about if you were sitting anywhere near them. Not as bad as Just Bleed guy, but close.

Probably worse than the Just Bleed fella for me. He probably at least knew he looked a twat and didn’t care. I doubt these lads even have that self awareness 🤣

Didn’t catch much of the prelims but was disappointed in the Ezra Elliott vs Damien Anderson fight. Mostly disappointed in Anderson though considering he was meant gonna some grappling whizz yet couldn’t seem to grasp how to defend a single leg takedown. First time seeing both though, need to see more because maybe Ezra is just a better grappler than he was being given credit for. Also worth noting that Ezra missed weight and Anderson looked a bit on the small side for 145 anyway. The fight was thrown together late in the day as well so mightn’t be a fair reflection on either of them. Need to see more, hopefully Anderson drops back to 135 next time.

If you skipped the Heavyweight fight on the prelims, and I wouldn’t blame you, here’s RJ Harris clobbering Alvin Hines with an uppercut that literally lifts him off the ground…

Sweet Christ. He’ll probably turn out to be just another useless blob like most of the division but this was short and violent, like Heavyweight fights should always be. Cool moment actually with him saying in the post-fight interview that he was gonna be a Dad any day now. Big sod was fighting back tears, bless him. Shame he didn’t get a POTN bonus.

Edited July 22 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Tommy McMillen clearly has a ceiling, but he's got that kind of dog in him you can't teach. He's gonna be fun as long as he's around.