Photo provided by ONE Championship
4 Things to Know About Reinier de Ridder Ahead of UFC Debut
The UFC has signed former ONE Championship two-division champ, Reinier de Ridder.
“The Dutch Knight” commonly referred to by his initials RDR among fans is coming off of a win at United Arab Emirates: Warriors 51. He defeated Magomedmurad Khasaev there to shake off his two losses to the current ONE dual champion, Anatoly Malykhin. The 34-year-old martial artist brings a lot of talent to the UFC and now is the time to take note.
What are those talents?
Well, here are some you might want to be aware of:
- Held middleweight titles in several other promotions including ONE Championship.
De Ridder won middleweight titles at Hit Fighting Championship and 360 Fighting promotions before arriving at ONE. He has tested himself both at middleweight and light heavyweight, but middleweight seems to be where he is strongest.
- Double Champion at ONE Championship
He made his debut with ONE Champion as a middleweight where he picked up a first-round submission. Then when he moved up to light-heavyweight, he picked up another finish by knockout out solidifying his game is anything but one-dimensional. When he won the light-heavyweight title, he went back to middleweight and defended it twice.
- Black belts in Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
He holds black belts in both Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu making him dangerous in the clinch and on the ground. Most of his wins come by way of submission and four by knockout due to his reach of 79 inches.
- His only losses. (17-2)
Before facing the force that is Anatoly Malykhin in ONE Championship, de Ridder was looking to claim the throne in both divisions he won titles in and put both of them to the test, along with his undefeated record. In a time where champions seem to disappear when they lose, de Ridder looks to erase his losses by picking up more wins.
No debut date has been announced by the UFC yet, but when looking at the current UFC middleweight rankings, there are some fun fights to make there.
