“I wanted to say this is the best American wrestler you have, right? Now give me the best American striker. Strickland, you’re up buddy, let’s go.” While some fighters get ready to move out of their divisions and vacate their belt to avoid fighting their occasional training partners and friends (Oh, you know who I’m talking about), Reinier de Ridder decided to go for arguably the best in the division with his UFC Des Moines callout, even though Sean Strickland has previously trained with him. Well, this was a move that not many liked, claiming that de Ridder was cherry-picking his opponents. But Josh Thomson and John McCarthy had a different view.
During their recent conversation on the Weighing In podcast, the former UFC referee began praising the ex-ONE champion for his callout. According to him, calling out the best was a way of putting oneself on the map. McCarthy said, “Look, Sean’s actually good on the ground. He doesn’t like to be there. But he actually used to be a damn good grappler. And I don’t think he can stay on the ground with RDR for a full round.”
But ‘The Punk’ and ‘Big’ John knew that RDR wouldn’t be able to dominate Strickland on the ground either. McCarthy claimed, “It’ll be hard getting him [Strickland], keeping him there.” That’s when Thomson weighed in on ‘The Dutch Knight’s strategy, which wouldn’t work on Strickland. And that’s the reason why, as per ‘The Punk’, de Ridder vs. Strickland is a great matchup. He said, “But the one thing that I think RDR is looking at is– All you gotta do is get you to move backwards. ‘I was able to get Bo Nickal to go backwards. I’m gonna try to get you to go backwards,’ because we know Sean doesn’t fight the same going back. So, he’s picking his opponents beautifully.”
November 9, 2024, Las Vegas, Nv, Las Vegas, Nv, United States: Gerald Meerschaert and Reinier de Ridder meet in the octagon for a 3-round bout at UFC Apex for UFC Fight Night – Magny and Pirates on November 9, 2024 in Las Vegas, NV, United States. /PxImages Las Vegas, Nv United States – ZUMAp175 20241109_zsa_p175_376 Copyright: xLouisxGrassex
McCarthy announced that it was the best thing about such callouts. Reinier de Ridder didn’t waste time letting the matchmaking team get him a bout. He did their jobs for them. And ‘The Punk’ had only one thing to say about that – “Closed mouths don’t get fed, baby!” But do you know that ‘The Dutch Knight’ was previously hesitant about calling ‘Tarzan’ out?
Reinier de Ridder was once unwilling to fight Sean Strickland
During the post-fight press conference for UFC Fight Night 247, de Ridder revealed his interest in fighting Khamzat Chimaev. Yes, that’s indeed a bold choice, given the kind of performance the Chechen Wolf showed against Robert Whittaker at UFC 308. However, during the conversation, he disclosed that he was once training with Strickland, which is the reason why he didn’t want to fight him. He said, “I was just training with Strickland over the last couple of weeks. So wouldn’t be as nice to call him out. But, why not Khamzat? That would be a nice matchup grappling-wise… It would be cool.”
Needless to say, ‘RDR’ had a pretty good opinion of Strickland, even though he once kicked him out of the training cage. He continued, “Very nice dude. We had some fun. He told me to get out of the cage because I wasn’t part of the team. But then he came running after me and said, ‘I’m sorry, I was wrong. You can use the cage.’”
Nevertheless, the fight against ‘Tarzan’ would definitely cement de Ridder’s legacy in the UFC. Of course, he has proven himself multiple times at ONE Championship. On top of that, he’s undefeated in the UFC. Having faced and defeated the so-called best wrestler, targeting the best striker was only natural. And after that, in case he wins, we might even get to see ‘The Dutch Knight’ become the middleweight champion of the world in the world’s premier MMA promotion.
What are your thoughts on the matchup between ‘RDR’ and Strickland? Do you think the #13 middleweight contender can defeat someone of Strickland’s caliber? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
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