Kamaru Usman explains why he moved up to middleweight to fight Dricus Du Plessis at UFC Oklahoma City

Kamaru Usman is moving back up to middleweight.

Usman is set to take on Dricus Du Plessis in the main event of UFC Oklahoma City in what will be a fan-friendly fight. Although Usman is the former welterweight champion, he opted to move back up to middleweight to take on Du Plessis.

Part of the reason why Usman is moving up in weight is that he calls himself a moneyweight fighter, so he doesn’t care what weight he has to fight at.

“For me, I’ve always said this. I’m a ‘moneyweight’ fighter. So it’s not about ‘85 or ‘70. I can hit both,” Usman said to UFC.com. “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.”

Kamaru Usman eyes title shot with win at UFC OKC

Along with Kamaru Usman not caring about the weight, he knows moving up is a quicker path to a title shot.

Usman believes that with a win over Dricus Du Plessis at middleweight, he is right in the mix for a title shot.

“I think a fight like this propels me towards that title, and that’s the most important thing right now,” Usman said. “I’m not necessarily here just to fight. At the end of the day, I understand that Father Time waits for no one, and I can’t do this forever. So I want the biggest and the best opportunity for myself and my team to be able to go out there and showcase everything that we’ve put into this. This happened to be the opportunity, so we took it.”

So, with Usman thinking he gets closer to a title shot, he thought the decision to move up to middleweight at UFC Oklahoma City was a no-brainer.

Do you think Kamaru Usman will beat Dricus Du Plessis at UFC Oklahoma City?