Two Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweights will clash in “The Golden State.”
MMAMania.com confirmed with multiple sources today that Reinier de Ridder, who is fresh off his first with the promotion, will fight 23 UFC fight veteran Kevin Holland at UFC 311 on Sat., Jan. 18, 2025, which will take place inside the brand-new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California.
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Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
De Ridder (18-2) is getting right back to action after his sloppy but entertaining UFC debut against Gerald Meerschaert at UFC Vegas 100. RDR submitted “GM3” in the third round after a back-and-forth battle (watch highlights).
“The Dutch Knight” had high expectations when he signed with UFC because of his success in ONE Championship, which included winning the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight titles simultaneously.
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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Holland (26-12) is coming off a technical knockout (TKO) due to a corner stoppage because he suffered a rib injury at the end of the first round of his fight against Roman Dolidze at UFC 307 in Oct. Before that, he submitted Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC 302. “Trailblazer” is 2-3 in his last five fights.
A win over Holland would set De Ridder up for a Top 15 opponent; if Holland derails RDR, he will be right back in the Middleweight contender picture.
It has been heavily rumored that Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan will headline UFC 311.
Additional UFC 311 fights include, but are not limited to:
- Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
- Johnny Walker vs. Bogdan Guskov
- Karol Rosa vs. Ailín Perez
- Zachary Reese vs. Sedriques Dumas
- Raoni Barcelos vs. Payton Talbott
- Ricky Turcios vs. Bernardo Sopaj
- Grant Dawson vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira