Islam Makhachev shares prediction for Kamaru Usman’s UFC Oklahoma City clash

Islam Makhachev thinks Kamaru Usman’s bad knees are going to affect him in his UFC Oklahoma City fight.

This Saturday evening, Kamaru Usman returns to motion for the primary time since June 2025, when he takes on Dricus Du Plessis within the UFC Oklahoma City fundamental event.

Ahead of his fight against the previous middleweight champion, Usman has attempted to quash worries concerning the big size difference in what will probably be just his second middleweight fight.

Nevertheless, it isn’t the dimensions difference that current welterweight champion Islam Makhachev is anxious about for ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’.

Who wins when Dricus du Plessis and Kamaru Usman fight? 👊

Makhachev predicts Du Plessis win as he explains worry for Usman’s knees

The 39-year-old has never officially revealed that he’ll now not fight at welterweight after campaigning for a clash against Makhachev earlier this 12 months.

Despite that, the currently 170lb champion believes it’s a ‘smart move’ for Usman to have moved as much as 185lbs due to his history with current champion, Sean Strickland.

“Kamaru Usman made a wise move, I used to be wondering why he moved up but when he beats Du Plessis he’ll grow to be the following title contender because he already has a win over Sean Strickland, that’s why he decided to take the chance,” Makhachev told Murad Machaev.

Nevertheless, despite pondering Usman made the right decision by moving up in weight, Makhachev doesn’t expect the previous champion to go away Oklahoma City with the win, predicting a win for ‘Stillknocks’.

“It’s going to be a troublesome fight. He’ll probably attempt to wrestle… To be honest, I feel Du Plessis wins. Usman’s knees are bad, he can’t wrestle consistently,” he continued.

Usman’s knees have been a subject of conversation for several years now, and Joe Rogan even once claimed that Usman has to walk on grass as he struggles to walk on concrete paving.

Pairing that together with his recent inactivity in the game, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has a troublesome uphill battle ahead of him in Oklahoma City.

But when he’s capable of pull off the upset, Usman could find himself being quickly fast-tracked to a middleweight title shot as he already has a win over Strickland back in 2017.