Following the news that Reinier de Ridder has signed to the UFC, his Octagon debut has since been reported.
The former two-weight world champion in ONE Championship will face Gerald Meerschaert on November 9 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
After a post from the Roster Tracker account on X showed that de Ridder was now a member of the UFC roster, the reports were followed up on and confirmed.
Today, UFC op Eurosport confirmed the date and opponent for his debut that will take place at UFC Vegas 100.
De Ridder last fought in July where he competed at UAE Warriors 51, stopping Magomedmurad Khasaev in the opening round.
After arriving in ONE Championship back in 2019, he won seven fights which saw him defeat Aung La N Sang to win both the middleweight and light heavyweight titles.
The Dutchman's run in the promotion came to an end following the first losses of his career which were consecutive defeats to Anatoly Malykhin.
De Ridder will be entering the UFC's middleweight division and facing another submission specialist in Meerschaert who is no stranger to the Octagon, having fought 21 times under the UFC banner.
The pair have a combined number of 41 wins via submission which should make for some exciting exchanges wherever the fight takes place.
A pivotal flyweight bout between former champion Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi was set to headline this Fight Night card on November 9 until it was recently brought forward a week.
At 34 years old, de Ridder still has plenty to offer the UFC's 185-pound division.
With fans questioning how he would stack up against another promotion's contenders for many years at this stage, we will finally find out when "The Dutch Knight" arrives in the UFC.
