Reinier “The Dutch Knight” de Ridder, 34, of Breda, Netherlands has signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is based in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, United States. The Dutch mixed martial artist will make his promotional debut at “UFC Fight Night 247” at the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Las Vegas Valley, Clark County on November 9, 2024.
Reinier de Ridder vs Gerald Meerschaert
De Ridder’s “UFC Fight Night 247” opponent is Gerald “GM3” Meerschaert III, 36, of Racine, Wisconsin, USA. They will battle it out in the middleweight division.
Before joining the UFC, de Ridder competed in Gladiators Fighting Championship, Rostocker and Benefiz Fight Night, Superior Fighting Championship, 360 Promotion, Hit Fighting Championship, Extreme Fighting Championship, ONE Championship and UAE Warriors. He held ONE Championship’s middleweight and light heavyweight belts between 2020 and 2022.
On December 3, 2022, de Ridder lost the ONE Light Heavyweight Championship title to Anatoly Malykhin, now 36, of Mytishchi, Russia at “ONE on Prime Video 5” in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. During their rematch at “ONE 166” in Lusail, Qatar on March 1, 2024, the Dutch MMA fighter lost the ONE Middleweight Championship title to his Russian opponent.
After the two consecutive losses, de Ridder joined UAE Warriors. On July 27, 2024, he defeated Magomedmurad “Trucker” Khasaev, 27, of Russia via technical knockout at “UAE Warriors 51” in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Both de Ridder and Meerschaert are a black belt in Brazilian jiujitsu. The former is 6’4″ tall and the latter stands 6’1″.
“UFC Fight Night 247” marks the 20th UFC fight of Meerschaert excluding his two The Ultimate Fighter bouts. he currently holds a professional MMA record of 37 wins and 17 losses while de Ridder has 17 wins and 2 losses.
Meerschaert is coming out of two consecutive wins. He defeated Bryan “Bam Bam” Barberena, 35, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA via technical submission at “UFC Fight Night 239” on March 16, 2024 and submitted Edmen “The Golden Boy” Shahbazyan, 26, of Las Vegas at “UFC on ESPN 62” on August 24, 2024 both at the UFC Apex in Enterprise.
CONAN Daily 