It’s safe to say Reinier de Ridder is happier now that he’s found a home in the UFC.
Despite claiming titles in two different weight classes in ONE Championship, “The Dutch Knight” endured a contentious split with his former employers and he doesn’t have much nice to say about them now. While he’s largely avoided the subject since leaving ONE and signing with the UFC, de Ridder finally addressed the Singapore based promotion by sending a harsh warning to any fighters who are considering going there.
“This is something I feel I have to do for other fighters — if you’re thinking of signing with ONE Championship, don’t,” de Ridder said at the UFC Vegas 100 post-fight press conference. “It’s that simple. You should not. There’s nothing there. There’s no fights. You’re just wrong if you do this, if you sign there, this is a bad mistake.”
The former light heavyweight and middleweight champion didn’t get into many details about his disdain towards ONE but at least one major problem came down to activity.
Following three fights in 2022, de Ridder didn’t compete at all during 2023 outside of a grappling match against Tye Ruotolo. He finally returned to action in early 2024 but a loss to Anatoly Malykhin marked the end of his run with ONE Championship before de Ridder competed a single time in UAE Warriors prior to signing with the UFC.
“It’s been a bad couple of years,” de Ridder said. “The stress I’ve been put through. The stress my family’s been put through. To even just get fights, it hasn’t been nice. It’s hard for me to talk bad because I had a couple of good years at ONE as well. In the beginning, they treated me well. Over the past couple of years, it’s been really bad.”
If there was one aspect about ONE Championship that he missed, de Ridder admitted the post-fight celebrations where glitter falls from the ceiling to end a show was a nice touch but that sounds like the only thing he’s not getting compared to his new home in the UFC.
“[I miss it] a bit yeah,” de Ridder said about the colorful post-fight celebrations. “It would have been nice, it looks cool. But everything else [in ONE Championship] is shit.”
While the ill feelings towards ONE clearly still exist, de Ridder has moved on with his career, especially after he tapped out all-time submissions leader Gerald Meerschart in the third round at UFC Vegas 100.
Taking on another grappler and a fighter he’s trained with in the past gave de Ridder some new obstacles to overcome but the end result is what matters most.
“On the floor, I made a few mistakes, especially in the second round,” de Ridder explained. “I shouldn’t have went for those [D’arce chokes], I thought I had them but they weren’t there. There’s a few little tweaks I should make there.
“But I’m happy it happened this way, the fight happened this way. Because normally he’s the guy who lasts longer, he takes some shots and he’s still there and he finishes guys at the end of the second or in the third round. So it’s cool I was that guy this time.”
With the win, de Ridder immediately becomes a name to watch in the middleweight division but he’s obviously not trying to take things slow and easy now that he’s in the UFC.
When asked about potential opponents, de Ridder didn’t blink when calling for a showdown against arguably the 185-pound boogeyman.
“Why not Khamzat [Chimaev]?” de Ridder said. “That would be a nice matchup, grappling wise, it would be cool.”’
Whether it’s Khamzat Chimaev or somebody else, de Ridder is just happy to keep his calendar full thanks to the UFC.
“Whatever the UFC wants of me, I’ll do it,” de Ridder said. “Just give me a call. I’m ready.”
