LAS VEGAS – Reinier de Ridder is happy to be in the UFC, and out of ONE Championship.

The former ONE Championship middleweight and light heavyweight champion debuted for the UFC this past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 247. De Ridder (18-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) got the job done in his first trip to the octagon, as he submitted veteran Gerald Meerschaert (37-18 MMA, 12-10 UFC) in the third round of their contest.

After his debut win, speaking with reporters backstage, de Ridder issued a warning to any fellow MMA fighter considering signing with his previous promotion.

“It’s been a bad couple of years, the stress I’ve been put through, the stress my family has been through just to get fights – it hasn’t been nice,” de Ridder said. “This is something, it’s hard for me to talk bad because I had a couple good years at ONE. In the beginning, they treated me well, but over the last couple of years, it’s been really bad.

“It’s something I feel I have to do for other fighters: If you think of signing with ONE Championship, don’t. It’s that simple. You should not. There’s nothing there. There are no fights. You’re just wrong if you do it. It’s a bad mistake.”

De Ridder competed for ONE Championship from 2019 to 2014 where he logged nine fights. The Dutch fighter competed consistently for ONE Championship until his loss to Anatoly Malykhin in December 2022. He didn’t step in the cage again until the rematch with Malykhin in March of this year.

De Ridder is happy to be with the UFC, and so far, says he’s had a great experience with the promotion.

“It feels amazing,” de Ridder said. “The way I’ve been treated all week, the way you guys have welcomed me, people in the media, Dana (White), Hunter (Campbell), everybody at the UFC (Performance Institute), the nutritionists, the physical therapists there, it’s been an amazing time.”

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