Even after Khamzat Chimaev’s dominant showing at UFC 319, Reinier de Ridder is confident that he can force the undefeated Chechen monster to tap out.
‘Borz’ climbed to the top of the middleweight mountain in Chicago, delivering a shut-out against ex-titleholder Dricus Du Plessis in the evening’s main event.
Mere days after scoring the biggest victory of his MMA career, Chimaev already has a laundry list of potential challengers lining up, including de Ridder, who launched himself in the division’s top five last month via a split decision win over Robert Whittaker in Abu Dhabi.
“I have some sneaky stuff from the bottom as well,” de Ridder told Submission Radio while discussing a potential clash with Chimaev. “I think I can really make it hard on him once I put him on his back. So yeah, I think I have a good chance in this fight. I will defend the crucifix by not getting there. Dricus just put his hand in the wrong position every time. And that’s why he got in the crucifix.”
Reinier de Ridder will have to go through ‘Fluffy’ if he wants a crack at Chimaev
The Dutchman could very well be the next man in line for Chimaev, but first, he’ll have to get through surging contender Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez. Following Tuesday’s episode of DWCS, Dana White revealed that de Ridder and Hernandez will headline UFC Vancouver on Oct. 18 from the Rogers Center.
RDR’ goes into the bout with a spotless 4-0 record under the UFC banner, including wins over Kevin Holland and Bo Nickal. Before his UFC run, de Ridder became a two-division titleholder in ONE Championship, carrying the promotion’s middleweight and light heavyweight belts.
As for Hernandez, ‘Fluff’ is sitting on an eight-fight win streak. In his most recent outing, Hernandez delivered a statement victory against Roman Dolidze. The victory was good enough to bump him up into the No. 6 spot in the rankings — one spot behind de Ridder.
