Reinier de Ridder victorious in debut, submits Gerald Meerschaert late at UFC Vegas 100
Reinier de Ridder victorious in UFC debut
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us tonight, November 9, 2024, for UFC Vegas 100, going down live from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a welterweight bout between no. 15 ranked Neil Magny (29-12), the winningest fighter in UFC welterweight history, and the surging former Muay Thai champion Carlos Prates (20-6).
Co-headlining the event was a middleweight showcase between former RFA middleweight champion Gerald Meerschaert (37-18) and former two-division ONE champion Reinier de Ridder (18-2).
Meerschaert came into tonight’s co-main event on a two-fight win streak with victories over Bryan Barberena (neck crank) and Edmen Shahbazyan (arm-triangle choke). He also came in boasting the most submission victories in UFC middleweight history with 11, and the highest finish rate of any UFC fighter in history with 12 stoppages in 12 total promotional wins.
De Ridder on the other hand, following four straight title victories in ONE Championship, would lose both of those belts in back-to-back outings against Anatoly Malykhin, who’s currently 14-0 with 14 finishes as well as a three division ONE title holder. He since rebounded with a win over Magomedmurad Khasaev (TKO) in his latest appearance leading up to his UFC debut tonight.
Of these two men’s 54 combined victories coming in 50 came via finish.
Continue reading to see how our UFC Vegas 100 co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Reinier de Ridder def. Gerald Meerschaert via submission (arm-triangle choke) at 1:44 of round three
De Ridder opened up the bout utilizing his front snap kicks until Meerschaert landed a nasty lead uppercut about one minute in. De Ridder secured a takedown shortly following, though Meerschaert got right back to his feet. Meerschaert started to land good punches as the opening round went on before he was taken down for a second time, again getting back to his feet quickly.
De Ridder landed a solid left hand as the first came to a close, soon after landing a right elbow in close followed by a left hook that dropped Meerschaert in the closing seconds.
Meerschaert was taken down early on in round two, though was able to battle his way back up as de Ridder was attempting to lock in a D’Arce choke. He then secured a takedown of his own, spending two or so minutes in top position before de Ridder got back to his feet and secured another takedown, his fourth of the fight, ending the second in dominant position.
Meerschaert searched for the takedown early on in the third and final round, ultimately getting taken down himself. De Ridder proceeded to partially take his back, before Meerschaert rolled and placed his back to the mat.
De Ridder went on to sink in the arm-triangle choke from here, submitting his BJJ black belt opponent and picking up his 12th career submission (16th finish) tonight in UFC Vegas 100’s co-main event.
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