Former ONE Championship middleweight and light heavyweight champion, Reinier de Ridder, pulled through on an anticipated Octagon debut earlier tonight (Sat., Nov. 9, 2024) at UFC Vegas 100 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, stopping middleweight veteran Gerald Meerschaert with a third-round submission (arm-triangle choke).
De Ridder has been one of the most dominant fighters outside of UFC for the past five years. The grappling ace was a two-division champion under the ONE banner and even defended his 185-pound strap a few times. De Ridder parted ways with ONE earlier this year after back-to-back defeats which paved the way for his UFC debut on Saturday night.
Standing in his way was Meerschaert, who holds the record for the most finishes and submission wins in UFC middleweight history. It was a solid test for de Ridder in a debut years in the making and one that had the potential to launch the Dutch submission specialist up the middleweight ladder.
De Ridder looked slow in the early going of the fight. Meerschaert landed some solid shots and defended well when the action hit the canvas. The middleweight scrap was pretty back-and-forth in the second round, but that didn’t last into the third. De Ridder eventually got the fight back down to the canvas and worked from top control. The arm-triangle choke presented itself and de Ridder took full advantage, becoming just the second fighter to submit Meerschaert inside of the Octagon.
Check out de Ridder’s debut submission in the above video player and his post-fight speech below, in which he calls for a quick turnaround at UFC 309 next weekend in New York City:
2 fights in 2 weeks?! #UFCVegas100
Just let Reinier de Ridder know sooner rather than later pic.twitter.com/yEJg5e6pQ1
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) November 10, 2024
For complete UFC Vegas 100 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.