Reinier de Ridder couldn’t have planned it any better after he landed a single takedown and then locked up a nasty rear-naked choke to put Kevin Holland away in the first round at UFC 311.

The former two-division ONE champion knew grappling was his easiest path to victory so he wasted no time dragging Holland to the canvas and he never got free again. Once de Ridder got locked on his back, he quickly transitioned to latch onto the choke and Holland had no choice but to tap out with the end coming at just 3:31 in the first round.

“I’m very happy with this win,” de Ridder said afterwards. “Thank you to Kevin for stepping up. This was about the plan. The main goal is always to choke the guy out.

“Give me a top five guy now. Come on. … I can be ready quick. So if you have a nice matchup for me, hopefully top five, give me a chance.”

It took only a matter of seconds for de Ridder to grab a leg and bring Holland down to the canvas in a hurry. While Holland did his best to threaten with submission attempts from the bottom, de Ridder was quick to shrug him off and then he began raining down punches from the top.

An elbow sliced down and opened up a cut on Holland’s eye as he continued playing defense before eventually scrambling in an attempt to escape. Unfortunately for him, de Ridder was quick to move along with him before taking the back and locking his legs around the waste for secure the body triangle.

From there, de Ridder wasted no time slipping his arm under the chin and securing the rear-naked choke with Holland grimacing from the submission before tapping out a split second later.

Now 2-0 in the UFC with a pair of submission wins, de Ridder looks like a very solid addition to the middleweight division with hopes of duplicated his past success in ONE Championship. As for Holland, he falls 1-4 in his past five fights and it’s possible he’s competing for his job when he returns later in 2025.