Former ONE two-division champion Reinier de Ridder didn’t wait lengthy to guide his octagon debut as he clashes with Gerald Meerschaert in a battle of submission specialists on the UFC Combat Night time card scheduled on Nov. 9 with the occasion going down on the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
A number of folks with data of the promotion’s plans confirmed the information to MMA Combating on Wednesday following an preliminary report from Eurosport.
The struggle reserving comes following information that de Ridder signed with the UFC after spending the previous 5 years competing in ONE Championships. Throughout his time with the Singapore based mostly promotion, de Ridder claimed each the sunshine heavyweight and middleweight titles earlier than really shedding each belts to present ONE three-division champion Anatoly Malykhin.
Following the conclusion of his contract with ONE, de Ridder picked up a fast TKO win in UAE Warriors earlier than signing with the UFC.
With 11 of his 17 wins coming by submission, de Ridder is greatest identified for his floor sport and he’ll check that towards Meerschaert, who holds the report for essentially the most submission wins in UFC historical past with 11.
Meerschaert comes into the struggle off two straight wins — each by submission — together with his newest victory towards Edmen Shahbazyan again in August, which earned him a Efficiency of the Night time bonus.
The struggle between de Ridder and Meerschaert joins a rising lineup on Nov. 9 with a most important occasion nonetheless to be decided.
Mike Heck contributed to this report.
