The fact that Kamaru Usman didn’t have an answer for Dricus Du Plessis wasn’t all that surprising to Belal Muhammad.
Usman returned from a 13-month layoff to meet Du Plessis (24-3 MMA, 10-1 UFC) this past Saturday in the UFC Fight Night 281 headliner, and it was former middleweight champion Du Plessis coming away with a convincing unanimous decision win over former welterweight champ Usman (21-5 MMA, 16-4 UFC) with scores of 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 in their 185-pound fight. Du Plessis’ traditionally unorthodox attack kept Usman off balance for 25 minutes, which, for Muhammad, was to be expected.
“I wasn’t really surprised,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie on Monday. “I picked Du Plessis to win. I thought his awkward style was going to be a little too much, but I thought Usman would be able to get a couple of takedowns. I figured it would go back and forth a little bit with the wrestling and grappling. I wanted to see if Du Plessis got better with it, but also I think Usman taking all that time off, right? What has it been, like one fight in three years? Then you come out and fight an awkward guy like (Du Plessis). It’s hard to get timing, hard to get yourself acclimated to it. I thought that was a little bit too much for him. You could just tell he wasn’t comfortable and couldn’t see a lot of the stuff that Du Plessis was throwing at him. …
“I don’t know what Usman was thinking. I don’t know why he was upset by the decision. It was clear for DDP.”
Belal Muhammad vs. Kamaru Usman: Could it be next?
Usman, 39, now is the loser of four of his past five fight while wandering between welterweight and middleweight. The loss to Du Plessis was the first time he’s fought since a June 2025 win over Joaquin Buckley at welterweight.
While Muhammad was welterweight champion and also coming out of his title loss to Jack Della Maddalena in May 2025, he and Usman engaged in a feud, which stemmed from a podcast scuffle between them. There was talk of a fight between the former champions, though it never materialized.
While the timing might seem right for a grudge match to be made, with Muhammad also on a three-fight skid after losing to Gabriel Bonfim last month, Muhammad made it clear that he’s not willing to wait if Usman once again takes his sweet time coming back to the cage.
“I’ve been chasing him and Colby (Covington) forever, right? But he’s been taking off years after a fight. I’m not taking off a year after a fight,” Muhammad said. “I’m hoping to get another fight in before the end of this year. Me? I’m feeling good, trying to get better, still trying to grow, and just waiting for a call.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Belal Muhammad ‘wasn’t really surprised’ by Kamaru Usman’s struggles at UFC OKC
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