Belal Muhammad was far from stunned when Dricus du Plessis defeated Kamaru Usman.

The UFC OKC main event featured a middleweight clash between “Stillknocks” and “The Nigerian Nightmare.” It was a dominant start for du Plessis, who had Usman staggering momentarily. The former UFC welterweight titleholder did have moments of success in the bout, but he never made enough of a dent to give du Plessis problems.

Ultimately, du Plessis scored a unanimous decision win in his first bout since losing the middleweight title. In an interview with MMAJunkie, Muhammad said he expected du Plessis to get the better of Usman.

“I wasn’t really surprised,” Muhammad said. “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. …”

When asked about possibly settling his grudge with Usman down the line, “Remember The Name” didn’t commit to the bout. Muhammad’s issue has to do with the time Usman spends away from the Octagon after each fight. Muhammad, who is trying to break out of a three-fight skid, said he needs to face opponents who are more active.

Muhammad also admitted he was puzzled by Usman’s post-fight reaction when the score totals were announced at UFC OKC. Usman was upset with the 50-45 score, but Muhammad thought the result was quite clear.

Can Kamaru Usman bounce back from his defeat to DDP, and who should his next opponent be? Share your opinion in the comments below.