REINIER DE RIDDER admits he’s much happier in the UFC than he was during the end of his stint with ONE Championship.
De Ridder made his eagerly-anticipated debut in MMA‘s top promotion last November after six years on the books at ONE.
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Getting fights proved to be difficult towards the end of the former two-weight champion’s stint with ONE, which was filled with long stints of inactivity.
That, however, couldn’t be any further from the case now that he’s in the UFC.
The promotion has handed ‘The Dutch Knight’ a speedy second outing early on Sunday morning on a stacked UFC 311 card in Los Angeles.
“It’s so nice [to be active],” De Ridder said during an exclusive interview with SunSport. “After my last fight, five days later, we were talking about the next fight already.
“Which is unique. Normally five months later, I would still be begging for fights with ONE.
“So I’m very happy to be active. I’m very happy to be where I’m at.”
De Ridder’s second octagon outing will see him face fan favourite Kevin Holland.
Many expected a ranked middleweight would be RDR’s next assignment given the emphatic manner in which he dispatched of Gerald Meerschaert in his debut.
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A ranked opponent, however, was offered to the 34-year-old.
De Ridder revealed: “There was a ranked guy before. But he didn’t want it. So Kevin stepped up.”I’ll keep my mouth shut on this (who the ranked middleweight was).
“But I’m very happy with Kevin because it’s another name which is very cool. It’s going to be a very explosive fight.
“Because he’s going to be throwing some wild s**t at me.
“I’m gonna try to put a lot of pressure on him trying to get him out of there early. I’m very happy with the match-up.”
De Ridder enters the UFC at the peak of physical powers and is primed to make an assault on the stacked top-15 in the division.
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And with a few wins, he could very well become the man to end the Netherlands‘ seven-year wait to host a UFC event.
“It would be cool,” De Ridder said about the prospect of bringing the promotion back to his homeland. “It would be very cool, it’d be awesome.
“But this is nice too. Travelling the world a little bit and seeing some different places is cool as well.
“So who knows, if I get a couple wins we can see if we can bring them back to the Netherlands.”