Former ONE Championship light heavyweight and middleweight champion Reinier de Ridder made his UFC octagon debut on Saturday at UFC Vegas 100.
De Ridder defeated Gerald Meerschaert by way of third-round submission in a bout that critics said was “sloppy.”
While he did not fully address the reasons why he left ONE, the former double champion did warn his peers not to sign with the promotion.
“This is something I feel I have to do for other fighters — if you’re thinking of signing with ONE Championship, don’t,” de Ridder said at the UFC Vegas 100 post-fight press conference. “It’s that simple. You should not. There’s nothing there. There’s no fights. You’re just wrong if you do this, if you sign there, this is a bad mistake.”
De Ridder, following four straight title victories in ONE Championship, would lose both of those belts in back-to-back outings against Anatoly Malykhin. He since rebounded with a win over Magomedmurad Khasaev (TKO) leading up to his UFC debut this past weekend.
