Reinier de Ridder had moments of doubt about his future following UFC Vancouver.
A former two-division champion in ONE, de Ridder made immediate waves after signing with the UFC in 2024, winning his first four fights, including a victory over former champion Robert Whittaker. “The Dutch Knight” found himself on the cusp of a title shot, but that all came crashing down in October, when “RDR” got stopped by Brendan All at UFC Vancouver.
Afterward, much was made of de Ridder’s collapse during the bout as he gassed out early in the fight, and speaking with media during the UFC 326 Media Day, “RDR” acknowledged that fighting five times in 11 months wreaked havoc on his body.
“Just on all levels, my bloodwork, everything was in the trash,” de Ridder said about his medical evaluations after UFC Vancouver. “Everything was bad. But mostly standing out, severe anemia, very, very low red blood cell count. Just worked my body to shit, basically.”
In fact, things were so bad for de Ridder that he wasn’t just affected on fight night, but for a long time afterward. So much so that he began to wonder if this was the end of his fighting career.
“At least I knew what was wrong with me at that point,” de Ridder said of his evaluation. “I was very happy with that. I had something to work from. But it took a long time to find my body back, to get everything started, to get the right treatment, and find everything out. That wasn’t easy. So, there were a couple weeks there, [where] I couldn’t complete a training session, I couldn’t walk up the stairs without being tired. So, there was a little while there thinking, ‘I might never fix this stuff. It might be over.’”
But despite the hardship it caused, de Ridder admits that if he were put in the same position again, he’d probably do the same thing.
“With the opportunity there, most likely I make the same dumb decision to fight again, because it was too cool,” de Ridder said. “I was on such a roll. I knew my body wasn’t there, but I just thought if I could get him out of there in the first round — and I was close — then we wouldn’t be talking about my health right now.”
Fortunately, de Ridder’s health issues appear to be solved now. He returns to action this weekend against Caio Borralho in the co-main event of UFC 326 in Las Vegas.
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