Fighters are in the very last stages of their preparations with UFC Abu Dhabi just a few hours away.
For Reinier de Ridder, that means he is close to the biggest opportunity of his career with his first UFC main event.
The last man to defeat Robert Whittaker sent a caution to de Ridder ahead of July 26, where ‘The Dutch Knight’ will look to continue his rapid ascent in the middleweight division.
Three consecutive finishes have seen ‘RDR’ quickly climb the ranks after only debuting inside the Octagon in November of last year.
On the day of his biggest fight to date, de Ridder joined forces with a former opponent that played a huge role in his career before he arrived in the UFC.
Reiner de Ridder completes final preparations alongside former opponent Aung La N Sang
Before Reinier de Ridder signed to the UFC, he was one of the top MMA stars in ONE Championship.
Things may not have ended well between the two parties but ‘The Dutch Knight’ was still able to accomplish a lot having reigned as a two-weight world champion.
Both of de Ridder’s title wins came against the same opponent, Aung La N Sang who has a huge following in ONE.
‘RDR’ defeated ‘The Burmese Python’ in back-to-back encounters, taking his middleweight belt first before beating him for the light heavyweight title in their rematch.
Since then, the two men have become training partners and teammates now that they both train out of Kill Cliff FC in Florida.
Fans reacted to a video that Aung La posted on his Instagram, showing the two men putting some light work in on the day of de Ridder’s first UFC main event.
The post even received a message of ‘good luck boys’ from ONE’s current heavyweight champion, Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane.
‘Can’t believe we’re actually cheering for RDR. that’s some real sportsmanship.’
‘Let’s goooo.’
‘When enemy becomes friend.’
‘Make us proud.’
‘Let’s go guys. Get that hand raised! Can’t wait.’
Reinier de Ridder’s size could be a huge factor at UFC Abu Dhabi
ONE Championship’s weight classes aren’t the same as the UFC’s due to the promotion’s attempt to remove drastic weight cuts.
However, even with that in mind, Reinier de Ridder is used to fighting bigger opponents having competed in higher weight classes before signing with the UFC.
His size has been a prominent factor in all of his UFC appearances and his face-off with Robert Whittaker ahead of fight night suggested that this could be the case once again.
While Whittaker has spoken about wanting to test himself at light heavyweight, the former welterweight has never been the biggest contender at 185 pounds.