{"id":808272,"date":"2026-07-18T13:25:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T13:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808272\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T13:25:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T13:25:47","slug":"ufc-oklahoma-city-how-much-confidence-in-usman-against-ddp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808272\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC Oklahoma City: How much confidence in Usman against DDP?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MMA<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Erickson, MMA Junkie<\/p>\n

Sat, July 18, 2026 at 12:03 PM UTC\"Tommy<\/p>\n

The UFC is back in Oklahoma City for the first time in nine years, and a pair of former champions are at the top of the lineup.<\/p>\n

UFC Fight Night 281 (Paramount+) takes place Saturday at Paycom Center.<\/p>\n

Get pick results from our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers, as well as additional analysis, below.<\/p>\n

Tommy McMillen vs. Alberto Montes<\/p>\n

Records: McMillen (10-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Montes (11-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC)<\/p>\n

Odds (as of 07.18.26): McMillen -110, Montes -110<\/p>\n

Junkie pick results: McMillen 6, Montes 5<\/p>\n

Fatima Kline vs. Tabatha Ricci\"Tabatha<\/p>\n

Records: Kline (9-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), Ricci (12-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC)<\/p>\n

Rankings: Ricci No. 10, Kline honorable mention<\/p>\n

Odds (as of 07.18.26): Kline -350, Ricci +280<\/p>\n

Junkie pick results: Kline 10, Ricci 1<\/p>\n

Chase Hooper vs. Mitch Ramirez\"Chase<\/p>\n

Records: Hooper (16-5-1 MMA, 8-5 UFC), Ramirez (8-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC)<\/p>\n

Odds (as of 07.18.26): Hooper -340, Ramirez +280<\/p>\n

Junkie pick results: Hooper 11, Ramirez 0<\/p>\n

Jared Cannonier vs. Christian Leroy Duncan\"Jared<\/p>\n

Records: Cannonier (18-9 MMA, 11-9 UFC), Duncan (14-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC)<\/p>\n

Rankings: Cannonier No. 14, Duncan honorable mention<\/p>\n

Odds (as of 07.18.26): Cannonier +260, Duncan -330<\/p>\n

Junkie pick results: Duncan 11, Cannonier 0<\/p>\n

\"Dricus<\/p>\n

Records: Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC), Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC)<\/p>\n

Rankings: Du Plessis No. 3 (middleweight), No. 10 pound-for-pound; Usman No. 10 (welterweight)<\/p>\n

Odds (as of 07.18.26): Du Plessis -260, Usman +210<\/p>\n

Junkie pick results: Du Plessis 7, Usman 4<\/p>\n

Individual staff member picks, main card<\/p>\n

Readers\u00a0107-53: Du Plessis\u00a0(67%), Duncan\u00a0(67%), Hooper\u00a0(85%), Kline\u00a0(66%), McMillen (62%)<\/p>\n

Danny Segura\u00a0115-48: Du Plessis, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, Montes<\/p>\n

Mike Bohn 107-56: Usman, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, Montes<\/p>\n

Matthew Wells 107-56: Du Plessis, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, Montes<\/p>\n

Nolan King 107-56: Du Plessis, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, Montes<\/p>\n

Farah Hannoun 106-57: Usman, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, McMillen<\/p>\n

Simon Samano\u00a0104-59: Du Plessis, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, McMillen<\/p>\n

George Garcia 102-61: Usman, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, McMillen<\/p>\n

Matt Erickson 102-61: Du Plessis, Duncan, Hooper, Ricci, McMillen<\/p>\n

Brian Garcia\u00a0101-62: Du Plessis, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, Montes<\/p>\n

Ken Hathaway\u00a0101-62: Du Plessis, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, McMillen<\/p>\n

Jero Guerra 19-8: Usman, Duncan, Hooper, Kline, McMillen<\/p>\n

Preliminary card picks<\/p>\n

Although they don’t count toward the standings, MMA Junkie staff members still pick the fights on the prelims. Here are the results:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Austin Bashi vs. Jose Delgado: Bashi 10, Delgado 1<\/p>\n

Seokhyeon Ko vs. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani: Ko 9, Lebosnoyani 2<\/p>\n

Felipe Franco vs. Levi Rodrigues: Rodrigues 10, Franco 1<\/p>\n

Alden Coria vs. Stewart Nicoll: Coria 10, Nicoll 1<\/p>\n

R.J. Harris vs. Alvin Hines: Harris 9, Hines 2<\/p>\n

Dione Barbosa vs. Alice Melisano: Barbosa 9, Melisano 2<\/p>\n

Damien Anderson \u00a0vs. Ezra Elliott: N\/A<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Oklahoma City predictions: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Kamaru Usman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt Erickson, MMA Junkie Sat, July 18, 2026 at 12:03 PM UTC The UFC is back in Oklahoma…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-808272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}