Reinier de Ridder is his own harshest critic.
Who else has a better grasp on just how badly the UFC Vancouver main event went for its loser other than de Ridder, who suffered a brutal collapse against Brendan Allen after a strong first round. Allen outworked and wore de Ridder down to the point that de Ridder’s team decided the fighter could no longer continue at the end of Round 4.
Three weeks removed from that disappointment, de Ridder spoke to Submission Radio about how he prepared poorly for the headlining bout and paid the price.
“Most importantly, I f*cked that up. I f*cked it up big time,” de Ridder said. “In training camp, looking back, I was just pushing myself way too far and the last, especially—well, basically the entire camp, I was feeling slow, very rundown, very tired after every session and during every session. To be honest, even in the Robert [Whittaker] camp, I wasn’t even feeling like myself at the last couple of weeks, but I was very stubborn as a Dutchman is supposed to be and I pushed myself. Kept pushing myself, kept going harder and harder and harder, and that’s what showed in the fight.
“I’m not even sure if it’s the weight cut. It must play a part as well because it was very hard to get down this time, but most importantly I just beat my body up this year like crazy and I just went too far.”
De Ridder mentioned the weight cut because fans speculated that the former two-division ONE Championship titleholder might be flirting with disaster at 185 pounds. The Dutchman doesn’t necessarily agree with that assessment, though he admitted to having extraordinary difficult with his weight cut for UFC Vancouver.
Another contributing factor to that mishap was the fact that de Ridder was fighting for the fifth time in 11 months. He was cautioned against doing so, but ignored the warnings.
“Everybody said, ‘Why are you fighting? Take some time off. Rest,’” de Ridder said. “And I was the only stupid guy who said, ‘No, I’m going to fight.’”
De Ridder had good reason to keep his hectic schedule. After last fighting for ONE in July 2024, he hit the ground running the following November with a third-round submission of middleweight veteran Gerald Meerschaert. He rattled off three more wins after that, including a TKO of heavily hyped prospect Bo Nickal and a narrow decision win over former UFC champion Robert Whittaker.
Knowing he could be one more win away from cementing a middleweight title shot against Khamzat Chimaev, de Ridder had no qualms about taking on Allen (who replaced Anthony Hernandez).
“Not even the money,” de Ridder said. “I’m good, I’m alright, I don’t even need more money. Don’t tell Dana (laughs). It’s just I was so focused on the title. I was so focused to finally get my title shot and I thought I was going to secure it in Vancouver. So I just kept pushing and I wanted to be ready.
“I wanted to be better than ever and it was never an option for me to say I’ll pass and take some time off because in my mind, I was not going to get the title shot and I’d be left wondering when I’d get the chance. So yeah, I did something I shouldn’t have done and hopefully I’ll learn a little bit.”
For now, de Ridder is eyeing a return in February or March, with names like Paulo Costa and Dricus du Plessis in his sights. He’s also eager to rematch Allen someday.
De Ridder was also asked about a potential move up to 205 pounds and while it’s certainly a realistic possibility, he has business to take care of at middleweight first.
“One of the things I’ve done is a DEXA scan to figure out what my lean mass is and everything, and I am a little heavy for an average middleweight,” de Ridder said. “So it is a consideration to go to light heavyweight and I think I will in the future, but then again, I have been able to make it five times this year in 11 months, four times I did extremely well after the weight cut, I was close to being 100 percent fighting. So I do think there’s still a future for me at middleweight, although it might not be where I finish my career.”
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I’m an unabashed “RDR” fan and, excuses or not, I’d still like to see him fight his way back to a title shot someday. A move to light heavyweight could be fun, both for us and for him not having to deal with such a huge cut, but I agree with him, he’s not done at 185 pounds just yet.
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