UFC Fight Night Du Plessis vs. Usman - Live Updates, Results and Highlights

There's a lot to unpack after the UFC's long-awaited return to the Sooner State. Here are the three biggest takeaways of the night.

Middleweight is a Mess

Sean Strickland is the reigning UFC middleweight champ. He won the belt with a close decision win over Khamzat Chimaev, who won the belt with a drubbing of Dricus Du Plessis, who in turn beat Strickland twice in championship fights. The division is really good right now, but the title is getting passed around like a hot potato. Can anybody grab the belt and keep it, the way Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya once did? In a division this competitive, it's not going to be easy.

Fatima Kline is a Contender

The UFC strawweight division isn't starving for contenders the way the women's bantamweight and men's light heavyweight divisions are, but it's not exactly rife with new title challengers either. That's what makes Fatima Kline such an exciting addition to the weight class. After her decisive decision win over No. 7-ranked contender Tabatha Ricci in Oklahoma, she is on course for the division's top-10. Given that she's flaunted both dangerous striking and suffocating grappling in her first UFC appearances, she's got a good shot at beating many of the women that stand before her.

Tommy McMillen is Fun, But Needs Work

Tommy McMillen, a featherweight sparring partner of former UFC bantamweight champ Sean O'Malley, improved to 2-0 in the UFC in Oklahoma, defeating a tough Alberto Montes by third-round TKO.

Both of McMillen's Octagon appearances have been intense wars. While he has emerged victorious on each occasion, he's also taken a ton of punishment both times. That does not bode well for his longevity. Legends like Justin Gaethje and Mark Hunt can make a go of the Homer Simpson approach, but for most fighters, this is the recipe for a very short career.

After his dominant decision win over former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman, Dricus Du Plessis declared "it feels so good to be back." 

There's no question he's once again one of the top contenders in the middleweight division. This was a great way to rebound from a tough loss to Khamzat Chimaev in his last fight, and it positions him well for a rematch with reigning champ Sean Strickland, who he's already beaten twice. 

All in all, it was a near-perfect return to form for South Africa's top MMA export.

Usman pushed the pace like the living legend he is in round five, and seemingly had Du Plessis in trouble for a second or two, but he most likely lost round five all the same.

Decision incoming.

After a close third round, Du Plessis returned to his role as the bully of this fight in round four, battering Usman on the feet, and defending the former welterweight champ's lone takedown attempt of the round. Usman landed a nice right hand to end the round, but it was futile. He is way behind heading into round 5.

Du Plessis most likely won round three, but Usman performed remarkably well for a guy who spent the last 10 minutes getting bludgeoned. Amazingly, the former welterweight champ landed a huge takedown in the final minute. Du Plessis probably still won the round, but Usman is still in this fight.

These guys are so elite. After an undercard full of fun but unrefined prospects, this is a treat.

Du Plessis was on fire in round two, hurting Usman times in the first three minutes. Things were briefly paused when Usman complained about an eye poke, but when the referee decided the strike was clean, the action resumed, and Du Plessis got back to business. He was touching the former welterweight champ up.

Usman survived, though, and did not back down for a second. In fact, he pushed forward for a lot of the round. 

Round was close, but Du Plessis landed more, and harder. Usman doesn't look out of place though. Onto round two.

It's time for our main event of the evening!

In one corner, we've got South Africa's Dricus Du Plessis, a former two-time middleweight champ who has beaten Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya, and Sean Strickland (twice). In the other corner, we've got Nigerian-American Kamaru Usman, who is far and away the second-best welterweight in UFC history behind Georges St-Pierre, on the strength of an amazing five title defenses.

Du Plessis has all the advantages. He's bigger, he's younger, he's stronger, and he's been more active of late. But Usman is well… Usman. This guy was Superman in his prime.

This fight has massive implications for the ever competitive middleweight division. 

The fighters are ready to walk out. Here we go. 

England's Christian Leroy Duncan defeated Jarred Cannonier by decision in Oklahoma City. It was the biggest win of his career, but it's probably not going to help him much. While he was in control for most of the fight, he failed to finish a much older, much smaller opponent. Considering this follows a similarly underwhelming win over a fading Roman Dolidze, you can understand how fans probably aren't counting the days till he fights Sean Strickland or Khamzat Chimaev or Nassourdine Imavov.

Still, that's five in a row for "CLD," and as greats like Georges St-Pierre and Merab Dvalishvili have shown, finishes aren't everything. He is clearly very good.

Since debuting in the UFC way back in the very first days of 2015, Alaska's Jarred Cannonier has fought at heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight, and fought elite competition in all three divisions. At middleweight, he's contended once for the title, and he's been one of the most reliable gatekeepers in the division's history.

If you can't get passed him, you won't get passed the best of the best.

Up next, in Oklahoma City's co-main event, England's Christian Leroy Duncan will look to become to the next fighter to pass the Cannonier test and vault into legitimate middleweight title contention. The Brit has won four straight, but this is easily the toughest test of his career.

With two losses in his last three fights, the future is still uncertain for Chase Hooper. That said, he sure looked good against Mitch Ramirez. Really good.

Hooper quickly got the fight to the ground, and tapped Ramirez out with a rear-naked choke inside a round.

It's his ninth submission win overall, and given that he's still just 26, he's still got a ton of time to shore up the remaining holes in his game. He can still become a contender.

We've got three fights left on tonight's card in Oklahoma City.

Next up, fan favorite Chase Hooper will look to rebound from back-to-back losses against Lance Gibson and Alexander Hernandez at the expense of one Mitch Ramirez. Ramirez, thankfully for Hooper, has yet to win a fight in two Octagon appearances. This one seems like a bit of a freebie for Hooper. The oddsmakers certainly think so. Let's see if Ramirez can flip the script.

The UFC strawweight division has a new contender in Fatima Kline.

We knew the lanky 26-year-old from New York could strike. In her lopsided Oklahoma decision win over Tabatha Ricci—a top-10 strawweight contender—she proved she can grapple to. In fact, she can grapple well. She even suplexed her opponent in round three, and gave a nod to commentator Daniel Cormier (a former Olympic wrestler) after making impact. She can do it all, and she will be a top-10 contender in her division come Monday.

In her post-fight interview, she called out everyone in the top-5 by name. To be honest, she seems like a legitimate threat to all of them, even champion Mackenzie Dern. As for Zhang Weili? Well, we'll see...

Up next, we've got a clash of top-15 strawweight strawweight contenders, as Tabatha Ricci takes on Fatima Kline. As far as the rankings are concerned, this is one of the most meaningful matchups of the night. With three straight wins in the rear-view, Kline is a big favorite to win. We've got a commercials and promo reels to get through before it happens, but this fight should begin in moments.

After his big win over Montes, McMillen calls for a spot on Noche UFC. The card is scheduled for Sept. 12 in his home state of Arizona. That's a pretty quick turnaround after his war in OKC, but who knows?

Tommy "Gun" McMillen had a ton of hype heading into Saturday's featherweight main card opener opposite Alberto Montes, thanks in large part to his affiliation with former bantamweight champ Sean O'Malley, and a Fight of the Night-winning victory in his UFC debut earlier this year. He also had a ton of doubters.

Score this one for his supporters. While he definitely took a lot of punishment in his scrap with Montes, he ultimately came out on top with a vicious third-round TKO in what could be another Fight of the Night-winning victory. The violence of the performance will earn him plenty of goodwill with the fans. The Diaz brothers-inspired middle fingers he threw up throughout round three will probably do even more to endear him.

That's 11-0 overall and 2-0 in the UFC for a young fighter who clearly has a ton of star potential. 

It's time for the main card. First up is a featherweight scrap between unbeaten Sean O'Malley stablemate Tommy McMillen and Alberto Montes. Both guys are 1-0 in the Octagon, and there's been a good deal of trash talk heading into this one. McMillen in particular has clearly been trying to make some noise.

Let's see who can back it up.

The undercard concluded with another very competitive fight, as Jose Miguel Delgado defeated Austin Bashi by unanimous decision in a very close fight.

We now move promptly to the main card!

Up next we've got our final bout of the undercard: a featherweight clash between Jose Delgado and Austin Bashi. Delgado is riding a big decision win over Octagon veteran Andre Fili, while Bashi recently picked up his first UFC win by submitting John Yannis. This one could be close, as far as the oddsmakers are concerned, but it should be a fun way to wrap up the prelims no matter who comes out on top. 

UFC commentators Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier spent much of Seok Hyeon Ko and Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani's three-round welterweight fight debating who was ahead on the scorecards. That's no surprise. It was a super competitive fight. In the end, though,  Lebosnoyani's success in the back half of the fight—notably the last minute—was enough to sway the judges. 

The unanimous decision win makes it six in a row for the American.

Welterweights almost always deliver, and hopefully they do so again when SeokHyeon Ko of South Korea takes on Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani up next. The South Korean has won six in a row, while the American has won five straight. This should be good.

Felipe Franco had to eat some big shots in round one of his light heavyweight fight with fellow Brazilian Levi Rodrigues Jr., but he put a stop to things with his ground-and-pound in round two.

That marks his first UFC win after a failed debut against Mario Pinto in the heavyweight division. He looked much better at light heavyweight. It's too early to call him a contender, but this division needs new blood, and he could be just that.

Our next fight will see two Brazilian light heavyweights go head-to-head. In one corner we'll have Felipe Franco, who will be trying to rebound from a loss to Mario Pinto in his UFC debut. In the other corner you'll find unbeaten "Baby Monster" Levi Rodrigues Jr.

It's hard to imagine this one lasting long.

Ezra Elliot was utterly dominant against Damien Anderson, completing over 10 takedowns over the course of three rounds. His unanimous decision victory marks a successful UFC debut, and brings him to 8-0 as a pro. He's probably disappointed he didn't get a finish, but he finished every fight until this point, so he was due for a longer scrap. It'll be a good experience for him.

We'll now head to the featherweight division, with Ezra Elliott taking on Damien Anderson. Both are undefeated, at 7-0 and 5-0 respectively, and both are making their UFC debuts. The key detail? Elliott missed weight by just over a pound. He took this one on short notice, though, so let's give him a pass.

Here we go.

Many expected Alden Coria to walk through Stewart Nicoll, who was winless in his first three UFC bouts ahead of tonight. That's not how it happened. While Coria was behind all the biggest moments of the fight—on the feet and on the mat—his opponent showed immense heart, eating huge shots on the feet, fighting off submissions on the ground, and always firing back.

Coria, expectedly, won a clear unanimous decision after three rounds. He's now 3-0 in the UFC. Nicoll, meanwhile, is an ugly 0-4, but his gutsy performance a world away from his home country of Australis might just get him another shot.

Up next, we've got a flyweight fight pitting Alden Coria against Stewart Nicoll of Australia.

Coria, one of the biggest favorites on this card, is 2-0 in the Octagon. Nicoll is 0-3 and almost certainly fighting for his job.

Let's see if we're in for another quick finish, or the flyweights slow things down. Somehow, that seems unlikely.

RJ Harris didn't need much time to deal with Alvin Hines. He made great use of his obvious physical advantages in their heavyweight fight, lifting his opponent off the feet with an uppercut, then finishing him off with a blizzard of vicious ground and pound.

With that, Harris is 1-0 in the UFC and 6-0 overall. His win tonight was a good reminder of why we love the heavyweight division.

Any long-term UFC fan knows what it means when two unranked heavyweights collide in the Octagon: We're most likely either in for a violent finish or, in the event neither fighter can make that happen, something ugly and sloppy and drawn-out.

As luck would have it, we've got just such a fight on tonight's bill. It will pit Alvin Hines against RJ Harris. Hines lost a decision against Jhonata Diniz in his UFC debut. Harris is making his debut. There's not much tape on either guy, but this one's a coin-flip.

As the oddsmakers believed, Dione Barbosa's grappling was simply too much for the debuting Anna Melisano. Early in the first round, the Brazilian took the American down and wrapped up a rear-naked choke. Hats off to Melisano, she defended it well for a minute or so, but after returning to her feet with her opponent still on her back, she was forced to tap.

Abracadabra. That's two in a row for "The Witch" Barbosa after a decision win over Melissa Gatto.

Brendan Fitzgerald, Michael Bisping, and Daniel Cormier are seated eagerly at the commentary desk. Joe Martinez has done his first introductions of the night. Melisano and Barbosa are in the Octagon. It's time to fight!

Let's get this card started.

The UFC's first visit to Oklahoma City since 2017 kicks off in about 15 minutes.

We'll get started in the women's flyweight division, as Anna Melisano takes on Dione Barbosa. Brazil's Barbosa, who has five UFC fights to her credit, is a big favorite to beat the debuting American Melisano. Let's see how it goes.