Du Plessis makes winning return to UFC with dominant decision over Usman

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, reported that Dricus Du Plessis returned to the UFC after nearly a year away with a unanimous-decision win over Kamaru Usman in the middleweight main event at UFC Fight Night in Oklahoma City. The bout took place at the Paycom Center, with judges scoring it 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46 for the South African fighter.

Du Plessis, 32, improved his mixed martial arts record to 24-3. The report noted he had won his first nine UFC contests before losing the middleweight title to Khamzat Chimaev in mid-August last year. Du Plessis, who had held the belt from January 2024, said after the fight that his South African supporters, including young fans, helped motivate him to recover from that setback.

The fight was largely a striking contest, according to the report, with neither fighter completing a takedown or attempting a submission. Du Plessis led Usman 139-99 in total strikes and 136-92 in significant strikes, a margin that supported the judges’ decision and suggested little sign of ring rust after his absence.

Usman, 39, fell to 21-5. The former welterweight champion, who held that title from March 2019 to November 2021, has now lost four of his past five fights and missed a chance to build on his previous win after 13 months out. In the co-main event, England’s Christian Leroy Duncan beat Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision in another middleweight matchup.