Reinier de Ridder isn't blaming anybody but himself for shortcomings in his past two losses.
After a blazing fast start to his UFC career with four straight wins including victories over former champion Robert Whittaker and Bo Nickal, de Ridder just kept the momentum going by booking his fourth fight in 2025 but that backfired spectacularly. He ended up falling to Brendan Allen after his body effectively shut down and his corner was forced to stop the fight.
While not the same outcome, de Ridder also felt fairly lifeless in his next fight when he lost to Caio Borralho before finally making the decision to move from middleweight to light heavyweight with his 205-pound debut booked on Saturday against Roman Dolidze at UFC Sacramento.
“The last couple of fights, every time I was doing a weight cut, I said this has to be the last one,†de Ridder told MMA Fighting. “Because it was just rough every time and not only the weight cut, not just during fight week but also in training camp, it was so hard to recover between sessions. Because I had to limit my calories so extremely. It just took so much out of me. It's time to move up.
“I think a weight cut like that, an extreme weight cut, like all the top guys at middleweight do is all right to do it like twice a year, max. If you fight once or twice a year you'll be all right. I did like six in a little over a year and it just f*cks everything up. It f*cks your body up. It f*cks your hormone levels up. Everything goes to shit.â€
Making the middleweight limit that many times took a toll on de Ridder but he knows it was his choice to accept all of offers so he can't get upset that things just didn't go his way.
“It was all those amazing opportunities,†de Ridder said. “They had a cool opponent ‘you want to fight this guy?' Yes, of course! It is what it is. It led me to finally going to 205 and it seems like most of middleweights are following me to 205 so we'll have the same matchups anyways.â€
As he embarked on his official move up to light heavyweight, de Ridder has noticed huge differences in his health, his training camp and the way he feels leading up his next fight. While not of that is shocking to him, the Dutch veteran realized just how much extreme weight cutting was hurting him more than helping him while competing at middleweight.
That's why long term, de Ridder believes something has to be done about the extreme weight cuts that almost every fighter endures to maintain a size advantage over an opponent. While he admits he doesn't have a perfect solution, he knows something has to change or somebody is really going to pay — perhaps even with their life.
“Mentally, [making weight] comes first and then the fight is second, which is so wrong,†de Ridder said. “It's time to figure this weight cut stuff out anyways. Everybody makes 185. Everybody's at least 210 when they fight, maybe 215. What the f*ck are we doing? I weigh in at 185, my opponent weighs in at 185, both of us weigh in at 210 when we fight. Like why are we doing this shit?
“The way the system is right now you have to [cut weight]. Because otherwise, you're fighting somebody who is 25 pounds heavier than you and that's too much. I don't mind fighting guys who are five or 10 pounds heavier, that's normal. If I'm fighting guys who are killers and who are as good as we are that's 25 pounds heavier, that's a problem.â€
Now that he's officially a light heavyweight, de Ridder completely shuts the door on ever going back to 185 by emphatically stating “I'll say never … never a middleweight again.â€
He hopes to find the same kind of success in his new weight class as he did when first arriving in the UFC and it all starts with his fight against Dolidze on Saturday.
“There's a lot of cool matchups,†de Ridder said. “If I do well and I can put him away, I think I have a chance of fighting one of the top 10 guys. It's basically all pretty cool matchups. I think it's going to be very cool. There's a lot of opportunities at 205 so let's get to it.â€
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