UFC Fight Night Du Plessis vs Usman Predictions

UFC Fight Night Du Plessis vs Usman Main Event Faceoff

UFC Fight Night Du Plessis vs. Usman is set to take place this weekend (Saturday, July 18, 2026) from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, with Dricus Du Plessis vs Kamaru Usman as the main event.

Du Plessis has the advantage when it comes to volume and pace, having landed 5.18 significant strikes per minute compared with Usman’s 4.16 over their careers thus far. DDP is less accurate when it comes this output, but it’s all about building pressure, stance changes and awkward bursts that force opponents to have to react. The biggest issue for DDP is his 34% takedown-defense rate, and the Chimaev fight shows exactly why that number matters against elite chain wrestling. You can check out my fully breakdown and preview of the main event here.

The co-main event of the night will see Jared Cannonier take on Christian Leroy Duncan at Middleweight, plus Chase Hooper vs. Mitch Ramirez and Tommy McMillen vs. Alberto Montes rounds out the main card.

UFC Fight Night Main Card Predictions

Here are my predictions for the main card of UFC Fight Night: Du Plessis vs Usman this weekend from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City:

Fight (odds)PickMethod
Du Plessis (-245) vs. Usman (+200)Du PlessisKO/TKO, R4
Cannonier (+270) vs. Duncan (-340)DuncanDecision
Hooper (-380) vs. Ramirez (+300)HooperSubmission, R2
Ricci (+370) vs. Kline (-485)KlineDecision
McMillen (-120) vs. Montes (+100)MontesSubmission, R2
Jake Skudder
Jake Skudder

Jake is the Head of Audience at F4WOnline, having previously worked as a Combat Sports, Gaming and Pro Wrestling writer, successful Editor in Chief and Sports Coordinator for NationalWorld. He has more than ten years of experience covering mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, football and gaming across a number of publications, starting at SEScoops in 2012. His work has also been featured on Wrestling Headlines, Wrestlingnewsco, HotNewHipHop and The Hard Times.

Previously, he worked as the Editor in Chief of 24Wrestling, building the site profile with a view to selling the domain, which was accomplished in 2019. Jake was previously the Editor in Chief for FightFans, a combat sports and pro wrestling site that was launched in January 2021 and broke into millions of pageviews within the first two years. He previously worked for Snack Media and their GiveMeSport site, creating Evergreen and Trending content that would deliver pageviews via Google as the UFC and MMA SEO Lead. Jake managed to take an area of GiveMeSport that had zero traction on Organic and push it to audiences across the globe. Jake also has a record of long-term video and written interview content with the likes of the Professional Fighters League, ONE and Cage Warriors, working directly with the brands to promote bouts, fighters and special events.

He previously also worked for PROGRESS Wrestling, as PR Head and Head of Media across the social channels of the company.