Kamaru Usman | A "Moneyweight" Fighter

Following a dominant, unbeaten run stretching from his UFC debut in the summer of 2015 all the way up to the summer of 2022, Usman’s imperious form hit a rough patch. He lost his welterweight title to Leon Edwards in stunning fashion at UFC 278, then was edged out on the scorecards in the rematch at UFC 286. He stepped up to middleweight to take on title-bound Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 and pushed the future champion all the way in a thrilling, but losing effort.

But last time out, Usman returned to 170 pounds and delivered a reminder that he’s still a major player. His unanimous decision victory over Joaquin Buckley snapped “New Mansa’s” six-fight win streak and kept Usman in the welterweight conversation. But as he explained, Usman isn’t a fighter to be restricted by weight classes. He’s a prizefighter, who will take on the biggest challenges for the biggest rewards. If that means moving up, then so be it.

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‘For me, I've always said this. I'm a ‘moneyweight’ fighter. So it's not about ‘85 or ‘70. I can hit both,” he explained. “I'm not the biggest at both, and I'm not necessarily the smallest at both. I might be the smallest at ‘85, but who knows? But for me, it doesn't matter. I feel that I have the skills to be able to compete at either one. So if it makes sense, I might be there.”

Keeping that flexibility has meant that Usman hasn’t bulked up for his move up to middleweight. He revealed that he’s arrived for fight week at “the exact same weight” that he usually does for a welterweight fight. The big difference this week is that he has 15 fewer pounds to cut.

“Looking at it, styles make fights, and it's not just the style with the fight. There's also another thing that a lot of people, to the untrained eye, don't really see when it comes to fighting. It’s the spirit, the spiritual part of it,” he explained. “This guy could have the style to defeat this guy, but if you can't really get past that spiritual part of it, you might not win. So, when you look at this fight on paper, the last fight Dricus suffered with the wrestling. If you go back to earlier fights, that's kind of been a little thing in his career. Wrestlers typically have a lot of success with a guy like him. But, like I said, you have to account for his spirit as well.

“He's big, he's strong, he's got good pace and a good gas tank that he's going to push. But I also have those things, and when you look at kind of the size difference, where that size really plays a factor is if a guy is a good grappler that is going to get a hold of you, is going to wear you down over time, and in that area, that's not necessarily the place where I'm weak, and so it's going to be an interesting fight.”

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Usman has faced plenty of tough opponents in his career, but he has built a reputation as a fighter who has the ability to take rivals into deep water and drown them. While acknowledging Du Plessis’ durability, Usman said he plans to “conquer his spirit” on fight night. And if he’s successful, the former 170-pound champ said he could find himself in position to challenge for championship gold at 185.

“I'm excited. I think a victory this Saturday definitely puts me right there,” he suggested. “If you look at the biggest fights in that division, it's myself and Sean Strickland, or maybe myself and Chimaev again. And so, with respect to guys like Nassourdine Imavov, I feel like these guys have definitely done some work to be at the top of the division. But hey, we’ve got to talk to the company. If it makes dollars, it makes sense, and (if) the company wants it, we’ll make it happen.”