Written by LAS VEGAS – Reinier de Ridder is seeking a memorable introduction to the octagon Saturday against Gerald Meerschaert at UFC Fight Night 247.
Former two-division ONE Championship titleholder de Ridder (17-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his anticipated entry to promotion when he takes on all-time middleweight finishes and submissions record holder Meerschaert (37-17 MMA, 12-9 UFC) at the UFC Apex (ESPN+).
It’s been a longtime dream of de Ridder to fight in the octagon, and he thinks matchmakers giving him an opponent like Meerschaert right off the bat shows he is being set up to make some noise.
“Finally, after all these years of talking about the top guys, to finally be close to getting them is very cool,” de Ridder told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 247 media day. “The most important this is Gerald first. It’s a very cool matchup. It’s cool that it’s here. … Let’s see what I can do.”
At 34, time is of the essence for de Ridder. He said he feels fresh and healthy after lots of time off during his final years under the ONE Championship banner, and is keen to “make up for lost time” now that he’s in the UFC.
In order to get the opportunities he wants, though, de Ridder knows he can’t scrape by with a win. He needs to do something emphatic against Meerschaert, and that is exactly his intentions.
“A win is not enough – the top dogs finished Gerald and I want to prove I’m one of them,” de Ridder said. “To be honest, if I can ever get close to one of the records he holds, it would be amazing. So cool to see him fight, I’ve always watched his fights and that’s a great thing for this fight as well. There’s so much tape to study. He has so much fights. He has a really difficult style.
“The ways he finishes fights, there’s a few things he’s very dangerous at, there’s a few things he does that I think I can really capitalize as well. But it’s a great matchup. I’m very happy that they’ve given me him for my first fight because he’s a veteran, he’s a real name and I think if I can put a stamp on this one, I have some leverage to start calling out some bigger names.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 247.