January 15, 2025 6:00 pm ET
LOS ANGELES – If things go the way Reinier de Ridder has them planned Saturday, you might not want to be late tuning in to the UFC 311 main card.
The 34-year-old de Ridder (18-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is just a couple months removed from his a UFC debut submission of Gerald Meerschaert. Now the former two-division ONE Championship titleholder has a stiff sophomore outing lined up against Kevin Holland (26-12 MMA, 13-9 UFC). They’ll open the main card at UFC 311 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+) at the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., just outside Los Angeles.
The Dutchman said he’s got a game plan – and it’s to get in and out in a hurry. He’s also got it mapped out fairly precisely.
“I’m going to try and pressure him, hit him with some good shots, take him down, choke him out,” de Ridder said Wednesday at a media day for UFC 311. “I see myself putting the pressure on. I think the first minute is going to be very wild, very spectacular. He’s going to be trying to get away from me throwing wild stuff, wild kicks, wild punches.
“I’m going to be pressuring him, hopefully getting him a couple times with some kicks, get him against the cage, get him down, get to his back and choke him out as soon as possible.”
Holland has been submitted three times in a pro career that goes back a decade. The most recent time he had to tap came against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279 in a hastily put-together fight at 180 pounds instead of welterweight when Chimaev missed weight for a fight with Nate Diaz.
De Ridder said he knows what Holland brings to the table. His 32-year-old opponent will be fighting not far from where he was born and raised in Southern California. The oddsmakers think it’s an even fight, even though Holland has dropped three of his past four.
What’s also true is Holland’s most recent seven wins have all been by stoppage, so even if de Ridder plans to get him out in a minute, he also seems to know there’s potential for things to get weird.
“He’s very experienced – he’s been around for a long while,” de Ridder said. “His main thing is his right hand is a very strong, very precise right hand – and he has a lot of smoke around it. (He throws) a lot of weird kicks, weird punches that don’t really do a lot normally. But if he can crack you with the right hand, straight down the pipe, you’re in trouble. That’s what I’m going to try and stay away from.”
De Ridder is a decorated grappler and has 16 of his 18 pro wins by stoppage – including a dozen submissions.
Check out de Ridder’s full interview in the video above.
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