Sean Shelby's Shoes: What's next for Kamaru Usman after UFC OKC loss?

Kamaru Usman made a daring attempt to recapture some greatness in the UFC Fight Night 281 main event, but could not accomplish his goal.

Former longtime welterweight champion Usman (21-5 MMA, 16-4 UFC) moved up to middleweight once again Saturday to try to alter his late-career landscape by facing recently dethroned titleholder Du Plessis (24-3 MMA, 10-1 UFC) at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. It didn't go his way, though.

The deficit in size and power was too much for Usman to overcome. He took some massive punches from Du Plessis over 25 minutes while staying upright, and even had his best offensive moments in the closing stages of the final round. It's clear this wasn't the prime version of Usman, however, or even the one who gave Khamzat Chimaev a handful on short notice in his previous middleweight bid in October 2023.

That's OK, too, because Usman is 39 and has only fought three times in the past three years. It's not surprising that adding 15 pounds to his fighting frame made him the slower man against Du Plessis, and it's even more of a burden on his knees, which are notoriously compromised.

Even with all that, though, Usman is still remarkably competitive. He's held his own in two fights at 185 pounds against former champions in Du Plessis and Chimaev, and that's to make no mention of his Hall of Fame worthy resume at 170 pounds.

The sport is ultimately about results, though, and on paper, Usman is 1-4 in his past five fights and almost nine months shy of his 40th birthday. MMA history shows there's more bad nights in his future than there are good ones, so Usman faces the questions of how many more times he wants to compete, and at what weight?

He was asked those questions at the UFC Fight Night 281 post-fight press conference, as was UFC CEO Dana White. Usman could not give clear answers, but his sentiment was that he's down to compete at either weight, and more fights as long as they made sense. White paid Usman the respect of leaving the door open for whatever he wants to do.

There's only one obvious fight to make at this point for Usman, and it's a long-awaited grudge match with Belal Muhammad. The pair of former champions got into a physical altercation while filming a podcast several years ago, but the footage has never been released and the only public details have come from word of mouth.

Muhammad (24-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC), like Usman, is in a difficult moment in his career. The 38-year-old has lost his past three fights since becoming UFC champion, and is in desperate need of a victory if he wants to stay relevant. He's called out Usman time after time, and while this fight could've once been envisioned as a championship bout, the stakes are now higher in a different way, because the loser would be swarmed by retirement calls.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean Shelby's Shoes: What's next for Kamaru Usman after UFC OKC loss?