Following his recent win against Gerald Meerschaert at his UFC debut, Reiner Ridder warns fighters not to join his old promotion.
The 34-year-old Dutch fighter recently made his move to the UFC after two straight defeats to Anatoly Malykhin. The fighter was promised a rematch battle, but after over a year of waiting, no date was set. Ridder was forced to leave the promotion. Since parting ways, “The Dutch Knight” has been quiet about what transpired in the promotion, but he recently opened up and warned fighters to stay away from it.
“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.”
“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.”
The fighter didn’t say much about the promotion, but one problem he had with it was its lack of fights. Although Ridder has had his beef with the promotion, one thing he said he will always miss is the post-fight celebrations.
“[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.”
Ridder has left the promotion and is now putting his whole energy into the UFC. His fight with Meerschaert has put him in the spotlight and made him one of the top contenders in the middleweight division.
“On the floor, I made a few mistakes, especially in the second round,” de Ridder explained. “I shouldn’t have gone 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.”
The fighter is intent on making a name for himself and has his sight set on battling Khamzat Chimaev.
“Why not Khamzat [Chimaev]?” de Ridder said. “That would be a nice matchup, grappling wise. It would be cool.”’
“Whatever the UFC wants of me, I’ll do it,” de Ridder said. “Just give me a call. I’m ready.”
