Reinier de Ridder kept his foot on the gas for nearly his entire UFC middleweight run. Four wins in seven months drove him to the edge of title contention until his body forced him to slow down. Now, De Ridder is refueled and ready for a new challenge.
De Ridder makes his UFC light heavyweight debut against Roman Dolidze at UFC Fight Night on Saturday, joining a growing list of middleweights exploring new opportunities at 205 pounds. His UFC rise happened fast. He'd already beaten former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and highly-touted prospect Bo Nickal by the time he met Brendan Allen.
A fifth win in less than a year could have put him within reach of a title shot. Instead, De Ridder completely imploded against Allen, exhausting himself to the point that his corner threw in the towel. "I pushed my body too far," De Ridder told CBS Sports.
"Too many weight cuts and training camps in too short a time period. Now able to feed myself during camp, I'm pushing hard twice a day for eight weeks. I'm going to show that on Saturday." FC numbered event and UFC Fight Night is included with your subscription!
Plans start as low as $8.99/month or $89.99/year! De Ridder believes the schedule caught up with him. He took nearly six months off before returning against Caio Borralho at UFC 326, hoping the extended break would correct the problem.
Physically, he felt better but still limited. Mentally, the Allen fight hadn't completely left him. "I still had some doubt in my mind," De Ridder said.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
