New UFC signee Reinier de Ridder opens up about promotional debut against Gerald Meerschaert: "Very happy with the matchup"
Reinier de Ridder recently opened up about his upcoming promotional debut against Gerald Meerschaert as he looks to make a great first impression with his new promotion. The bout will take place at UFC Vegas 100, which is scheduled for the Apex on Nov. 9.
There is plenty of hype surrounding the 34-year-old as he is most known for his tenure with ONE, where he was a two-division champion. He will look to replicate what Michael Chandler did when he joined the UFC from Bellator as he takes on a veteran opponent that could propel him into the rankings.
While speaking to MMA Junkie's Mike Bohn, the former two-division ONE champion shared his thoughts on fighting Meerschaert in his octagon debut and disclosed that they are no strangers to each other. De Ridder mentioned that he had trained with 'GM3' in the past, feels confident in his chances against him, and is hoping to remain active following the bout:
"[UFC] offered me this, I said, 'Yes,' right away. Very happy with the matchup. I don't know what's next but hopefully they have an event shortly after and I can get another one, who knows...[My game plan] will be take him down and try to choke him out. That's normally the game plan, so I don't think I'll change that too much. But he can really take a punch and he's always dangerous." [5:27 - 6:27]
Check out the full interview with Reinier de Ridder below:
Reinier de Ridder doesn't rule out competing in the UFC's light heavyweight division
In addition to sharing his thoughts on his promotional debut against Gerald Meerschaert, Reinier de Ridder hinted that fans could possibly see him compete at 205 pounds in the future.
It's important to note that ONE's middleweight division is 205 pounds as opposed to 185 pounds like the UFC. With that in mind, the 34-year-old is capable of competing at that weight. During the aforementioned interview, De Ridder mentioned that 205 pounds wouldn't require any trouble:
"I'm basically like 210 [pounds] walking around, eating my normal diet and training normally...It would be a very small cut to go to light heavyweight...Maybe down the line some light heavyweight action as well, we'll see how it all goes." [4:06 - 4:42]
Check out Reinier de Ridder's photo with both his ONE titles below: