Reinier de Ridder went on quite a rollercoaster ride when he was employed at ONE Championship.
Competing across two divisions, the fighter formerly known as “The Dutch Knight” captured titles at both middleweight and light heavyweight while remaining undefeated in his career. He eventually lost both belts in back-to-back fights against Anatoly Malykhin, but de Ridder was more than ready to begin his climb up the ranks again when he hit a brick wall.
ONE suddenly stopped booking him in fights and weeks turned into months when it came to a frustrating level of inactivity. He finally broke free of the promotion and signed with the UFC before issuing a warning to any other fighter who might consider signing with ONE.
On Saturday at UFC Abu Dhabi, de Ridder shares a card with another former ONE fighter when Marcus Buchecha makes his octagon debut after he endured a similarly frustrating run there. While he certainly doesn’t wish anybody ill will, de Ridder can’t help but recognize the seemingly perilous situation at ONE right now.
“It’s looking for good for us but not looking good for ONE at the moment,” de Ridder told MMA Fighting. “Unfortunately you are right but we’ll see how they bounce back hopefully but I’m not sure.
“With Buchecha, [we’ve] been putting in a lot of work together as well here in Florida. It will be cool to share a card with him. So happy for that guy that he’s finally free as well, finally able to get fights, too.”
While ONE has been heavily promoting Muay Thai and kickboxing bouts, many of the top MMA fighters have been sidelined for months at a time. Buchecha got so frustrated that he actually contemplated retirement before his contract expired and he signed with UFC.
For his part, de Ridder didn’t fight at all in 2023 before a single appearance in ONE in 2024 prior to the end of his contract. He competed once at a UAE Warriors show in Abu Dhabi before signing with the UFC and the promotion has kept him plenty busy since then.
On Saturday, de Ridder faces Robert Whittaker in the main event at UFC Abu Dhabi, which serves as his fourth fight with the promotion in just eight months. He wanted activity and de Ridder got it from the UFC.
“Be careful what you wish for maybe,” de Ridder said with a smile. “Because that’s what I’ve been asking for years is activity and I’m getting activity. This is going to be my fifth fight in a year. When I fight it will be exactly one year since I fought for UAE Warriors here in Abu Dhabi.
“It all came together very quickly but I’ve been settling down in Florida more so I found a house, I found a place to stay full time. My kids are going to go to school there so I’m thinking of doing more activity next year as well.”
Uprooting his family to relocate full time to Florida where he trains with the fighters and coaches at Kill Cliff FC is a very big deal but a necessary change for de Ridder. Being away from his wife and kids is probably the hardest part about back-to-back training camps, which he’s been doing non-stop for the past year.
Moving his family to Florida while he’s training nearby is the best possible situation as de Ridder chases UFC gold.
“It’s a very big commitment,” de Ridder said. “It’s a very big deal. Because they’re learning the language and everything that comes with it. I’m asking a lot of them but it’s also a very cool thing to be able to offer them this experience but I love it at Kill Cliff.
“It’s so good. A room full of killers twice a day and it just makes everything training wise so much easier. I can just show up and go crazy for however many hours. It’s lovely. I really like it there.”
With hopes that an impressive win leads him to a title shot, de Ridder doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon.
Just like all his fights thus far in the UFC, de Ridder is prepared for a war but so far nobody has been able to survive three rounds with him. This time, de Ridder has five rounds to work but ideally, he’d like to get Whittaker out of there long before the final horn sounds.
“I see myself putting pressure on him, hitting him with some good shots,” de Ridder said about his prediction for the fight. “Shots from the outside, getting close, maybe hitting him with some good stuff in close range, taking him down and choking him out.
“I’ve been scheduled for a lot of five-round fights already [in my career]. It’s not something that I really worry about but hopefully I can put him away early.”
