A new contender has arrived at middleweight with Reinier de Ridder making an impressive debut by tapping out former teammate Gerald Meerschaert in the UFC Vegas 100 co-main event.

The former two-division ONE champion engaged in a back and forth battle with Meerschaert, who holds the record for most submissions in UFC history, but it was de Ridder who finally got the job done in the third round. After securing a takedown, de Ridder moved into mount and locked up the arm-triangle choke with Meerschaert forced to tap just a moment later.

The end came at 1:44 in the third round.

“I think Gerald Meerschaert’d Gerald Meerschaert so thank you Gerald,” de Ridder joked about tapping out a fellow submission specialist in his UFC debut. “It was my first one here so I wanted to show some good stuff.”

An early striking exchange ended with de Ridder slipping inside and planting Meerschaert on the canvas with a well-timed takedown. Unfortunately for the former ONE champion, de Ridder wasn’t able to maintain control and Meerschaert slipped free to get back to his feet again.

As the middleweight traded shots, Meerschaert showed off superior power and technique as he popped de Ridder with several stiff punches. A good lead jab finally allowed de Ridder to counter but his best strike came with a huge elbow on the inside followed a slick left hand that dropped Meerschaert to the canvas.

The opening round came to a close before de Ridder could capitalize but that obviously gave him confidence as he came out and put Meerschaert on the ground almost immediately following the restart. Just as de Ridder looked to set up a D’arce choke, Meerschaert slipped free and he ended up on top during a scramble on the canvas.

Despite Meerschaert’s best efforts, he just couldn’t get through de Ridder’s defense as the Dutch submission specialist used his long legs to keep himself safe before he actually reversed positions with a reversal and a takedown of his own. Once again, de Ridder couldn’t get the submission but it turns out he was just biding his time for the right position and opportunity.

With five minutes remaining, de Ridder secured yet another takedown with a nice inside trip but this time he immediately moved into mount where he set up the fight-ending submission. The choke was wrapped up tight and with Meerschaert already running low on fumes, he had no choice but to tap out.

The win moves de Ridder to 1-0 in his UFC career but perhaps more importantly he sends notice to the middleweight division that he has officially arrived while dispatching a notable veteran like Meerschaert in his debut.