Announcements
New Signee Reinier De Ridder To Face Gerald Meerschaert In Debut
Former ONE Middleweight And Light Heavyweight Champion To Make First Walk To The UFC Octagon Saturday, November 9 In Las Vegas
The UFC announced Wednesday that new signing Reinier de Ridder will make his highly anticipated Octagon debut on Saturday, November 9, against veteran Gerald Meerschaert at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
De Ridder, a former ONE middleweight and light heavyweight champion, holds an impressive 17-2 record, with 15 finishes (11 submissions, 2 knockouts). The 34-year-old began his professional mixed martial arts career in 2013, winning his first nine fights across various promotions before joining ONE in 2019.
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De Ridder captured the ONE middleweight title just four fights into his ONE career in 2020. He then immediately moved up a weight division and seized the light heavyweight championship, becoming the third two-division champion in ONE history. He is coming off a first-round TKO victory over Magomedmurad Khasaev at UAE Warriors in July.
On November 9, he faces the established submission specialist Gerald Meerschaert in a middleweight bout. “GM3” is fresh off a come-from-behind, Performance of the Night submission win over Edmen Shahbazyan just last month. Meerschaert finished 35 of his 37 wins as a pro with 29 of those coming by way of submission. He currently sits third all-time for the most submission wins in UFC history with 11.
Additional announced bouts for November 9:
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Denis Gomes
- Mansur Abdul Malik vs Duško Todorović
- Tresean Gore vs Antonio Tricoli
- Cody Gabrandt vs Miles Johns
- Luana Pinheiro vs Gillian Robertson
