Dricus Du Plessis and Kamaru Usman are set to headline UFC Fight Night in Oklahoma City on July 18 at the Paycom Center, with the matchup marking the UFC’s return to OKC for the first time in nearly a decade. The card also includes Kevin Holland vs. Jacobe Smi
The Paycom Center in Oklahoma City is about to host a clash that feels built for the biggest stages—former champion against former champion, with a title-hungry storyline that doesn’t need much explaining.
The UFC confirmed Saturday during the Fight Night: Kape vs. Horiguchi broadcast that Dricus Du Plessis will face Kamaru Usman in a UFC Fight Night main event on July 18. The bout is scheduled for mid-July in OKC. with both men entering on the strength of championship résumés and a hunger that’s only sharpened by time away from the spotlight.
For Du Plessis, the spotlight has been dimmer than he’s likely used to. The South African, 31, hasn’t fought since losing the middleweight title to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 last August. Since that night. the belt has changed hands again: Chimaev has since lost the belt to Sean Strickland. and Du Plessis holds two championship victories over Strickland. His record also includes stoppage wins over former middleweight champions Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker—names that underline how much weight this matchup carries.
Usman’s story runs parallel, but from a different era. The Nigerian, 39, returned to the win column one year ago when he defeated Joaquin Buckley. Before that. he’d lost three straight: two losses to Leon Edwards that ended his welterweight title reign. and a short-notice majority decision to Chimaev in 2023 during his middleweight debut. Now. he’s moved up from 170 to 185 pounds. carrying that same urgency into a second act that looks designed to prove there’s still another championship level left.
The July 18 card also marks something significant for Oklahoma itself. It will be the UFC’s return to OKC for the first time in almost a full decade, and it will be the fifth UFC event in the state of Oklahoma in UFC history. The most recent stop in Oklahoma came in 2017.
That matters because it changes the setting for both fighters. Du Plessis is coming off a title loss that still echoes—especially with his victories over Strickland sitting in the background—while Usman is trying to make his bigger-weight journey feel less like a transition and more like an inevitability.
Besides the headline fight, the UFC Fight Night card in Oklahoma City also features matchups already announced for the lineup: Kevin Holland vs. Jacobe Smith, Jared Cannonier vs. Christian Leroy Duncan, and Brad Tavares vs. Canada’s Marc-Andre Barriault.
With former champions in the main event and a long wait for the UFC’s return to OKC finally over, the mid-July show has the kind of stakes that don’t fade just because the date is still weeks away.
UFC Fight Night Dricus Du Plessis Kamaru Usman Oklahoma City Paycom Center Kape vs Horiguchi Kevin Holland Jacobe Smith Jared Cannonier Christian Leroy Duncan Brad Tavares Marc-Andre Barriault Khamzat Chimaev Sean Strickland Leon Edwards