Du Plessis 'Forgot How to Lose,' Claims Chimaev Fix

Dricus Du Plessis went eight years without a loss. When Khamzat Chimaev finally beat him last August, it hit harder than anything he had prepared for. “I haven’t lost in quite some time, eight years, and I kind of forgot how it felt,” Du Plessis admitted this week at UFC Oklahoma City media day. Tomorrow night in Paycom Center, Kamaru Usman gets to find out whether the former champion actually fixed what Chimaev broke, or just got angrier about it.

What Did Dricus Du Plessis Say About the Chimaev Loss?

Dricus Du Plessis has been doing something rare this week: being publicly honest about what went wrong and specific about the fix. That’s either genuine self-awareness or a fighter who has convinced himself he has answers he doesn’t actually have. The fight will tell us which.

The South African said the Chimaev defeat stung in a way he genuinely hadn’t experienced in years. “Dealing with that loss, it stung for quite a while. It stung for a month after that fight.” He wasn’t bitter about it, though. He framed it as clarifying. “When I lost it, it made me realize why I wanted to become champion in the first place.” And then he came out with the line that will either look like clarity or cope after tomorrow: “It was a style issue. It was a gameplan problem. Now, I’m ready to go showcase that everything that went wrong is fixed.”

That is a testable claim. Either his team found a genuine answer to elite wrestling and top-tier pace control, or Usman’s going to expose the same holes Chimaev did. Du Plessis is 23-3, finishes at a high rate, and has beaten everyone the UFC put in front of him until Chimaev. The question the division has been asking since UFC 319 is whether that fight revealed a permanent ceiling or a one-time matchup problem. Tomorrow is the first real data point.

He also added a line with genuine edge to it: “I’m a terrible loser, and I’ll prove that on Saturday.”

Good. That’s the right attitude. The worst thing Du Plessis could have done is show up in Oklahoma City acting humble and philosophical. He needs to look like a man who has been furious since last August and has spent every training session since then fixing something specific.

What Does This Fight Mean for the Middleweight Division?

The middleweight picture is worth understanding before tomorrow. Chimaev took the belt from Du Plessis at UFC 319 in August 2025, then defended it against Sean Strickland at UFC 328 in May. The division is essentially parked until someone proves they belong across from Chimaev in a rematch or a fresh title fight.

Du Plessis is ranked second in the division. He has wins over Robert Whittaker in a title eliminator, Israel Adesanya via face crank in round four of UFC 305, and two wins over Strickland including the one that made him champion. The body of work for a Chimaev rematch is undeniable if he wins tomorrow with authority. His own coach said this week that a dominant performance against Usman should put the rematch conversation back on the table immediately.

Usman makes this interesting in a different way. The five-time welterweight champion called himself a “moneyweight fighter” during media day, meaning he goes where the opportunity is rather than committing to a single division. “I’m a moneyweight fighter. So, it’s not about ’85 or ’70. I can hit both.” His only previous middleweight appearance was a 2023 loss to Chimaev at UFC 294 by majority decision, so he knows what Chimaev’s game looks like firsthand. A win tonight doesn’t just knock Du Plessis out of the title picture, it opens up the possibility of Usman challenging for a second belt in a second division. That story writes itself.

During the first face-off this week, the size difference between these two was striking enough that it generated real concern from fans online. Du Plessis is bigger through the upper body and looks like the natural middleweight in the pairing. Whether that matters inside the octagon is a separate question.

Dricus Du Plessis: What You Need to Know

Du Plessis is 23-3 overall, with nine knockouts and eleven submissions in his wins. He’s South Africa’s first UFC world champion, a title he won from Strickland at UFC 297 in January 2024 via split decision. That was one of the more legitimately controversial scorecards in recent memory, but Du Plessis made the rematch easy, winning clearly on all three cards at UFC 312 in February 2025. Between those two Strickland fights, he submitted Adesanya at UFC 305 in round four with a face crank, one of the more unusual finishes you’ll see in a title fight.

He’s always been a pressure fighter with genuine finishing instincts at both ranges. The nickname “Stillknocks” exists for a reason. What the Chimaev fight showed is that when an opponent can take away his space, neutralize his offensive output, and grind him down with wrestling, Du Plessis can get controlled. Chimaev did exactly that for several rounds and walked away with the belt.

Tomorrow he faces a different problem. Usman is elite at wrestling and elite at control, but he hasn’t fought at 185 since 2023 and is coming off a welterweight run where his gas tank and pace have been questions. If Du Plessis can stay upright in the early rounds and make it a punching match, he should have the finishing power to get it done. If Usman can drag him to the mat and replicate what Chimaev did, Du Plessis has some real explaining to do about what he actually fixed.

What Happens to the Middleweight Division After UFC Oklahoma City?

If Du Plessis wins convincingly, the rematch with Chimaev is the call. There’s no credible argument against it given his record. He’s beaten former champions, defended the title twice, and took his first loss to the current champion. Give him the rematch and let the belt change hands again or get cemented.

If Usman wins, the division reshuffles completely. A 37-year-old former welterweight champion beating a former middleweight champion in his weight-class return is a massive result. It puts Usman in the top three at 185, sets up either a Chimaev rematch at middleweight or Usman staying at 185 to chase a second title. Either outcome generates real fights. The division can handle it.

The prediction here: Du Plessis by TKO in rounds three or four. Usman is a great fighter but he’s competing at a weight class he’s been to once before, against a man with more finishing power than anyone Usman has faced in years. Du Plessis’s claim that this was a gameplan problem and not a fundamental limitation is probably right. Usman isn’t Chimaev. He doesn’t have Chimaev’s wrestling volume or that suffocating pace. Du Plessis gets to show his critics that the Chimaev loss was a puzzle he’s solved, not the new ceiling of what he can do.

Watch this one closely. The middleweight title picture after tomorrow will look very different depending on who walks out of Paycom Center with their hand raised.