LAS VEGAS – Reinier de Ridder is looking for a memorable introduction to the octagon Saturday towards Gerald Meerschaert at UFC Combat Night time 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 report holder Meerschaert (37-17 MMA, 12-9 UFC) on the UFC Apex (ESPN+).
It’s been a longtime dream of de Ridder to struggle within the octagon, and he thinks matchmakers giving him an opponent like Meerschaert proper off the bat exhibits he’s being set as much as make some noise.
“Lastly, in spite of everything these years of speaking concerning the prime guys, to lastly be near getting them could be very cool,” de Ridder instructed MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s UFC Combat Night time 247 media day. “An important that is Gerald first. It’s a really cool matchup. It’s cool that it’s right here. … Let’s see what I can do.”
At 34, time is of the essence for de Ridder. He mentioned he feels contemporary and wholesome after plenty of time without work throughout his ultimate years underneath the ONE Championship banner, and is eager to “make up for misplaced time” now that he’s within the UFC.
With the intention to get the alternatives he needs, although, de Ridder is aware of he can’t scrape by with a win. He must do one thing emphatic towards Meerschaert, and that’s precisely his intentions.
“A win will not be sufficient – the highest canine completed Gerald and I wish to show I’m one among them,” de Ridder mentioned. “To be sincere, if I can ever get near one of many data he holds, it could be wonderful. So cool to see him struggle, I’ve all the time watched his fights and that’s an important factor for this struggle as effectively. There’s a lot tape to check. He has a lot fights. He has a extremely troublesome model.
“The methods he finishes fights, there’s just a few issues he’s very harmful at, there’s just a few issues he does that I believe I can actually capitalize as effectively. But it surely’s an important matchup. I’m very comfortable that they’ve given me him for my first struggle as a result of he’s a veteran, he’s an actual identify and I believe if I can put a stamp on this one, I’ve some leverage to begin calling out some greater names.”
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