Former ONE two-division champion Reinier de Ridder didn’t wait long to book his octagon debut as he clashes with Gerald Meerschaert in a battle of submission specialists at the UFC Fight Night card scheduled on Nov. 9 with the event taking place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Wednesday following an initial report from Eurosport.
The fight booking comes following news that de Ridder signed with the UFC after spending the past five years competing in ONE Championships. During his time with the Singapore based promotion, de Ridder claimed both the light heavyweight and middleweight titles before actually losing both belts to current ONE three-division champion Anatoly Malykhin.
Following the conclusion of his contract with ONE, de Ridder picked up a quick TKO win in UAE Warriors before signing with the UFC.
With 11 of his 17 wins coming by submission, de Ridder is best known for his ground game and he’ll test that against Meerschaert, who holds the record for the most submission wins in UFC history with 11.
Meerschaert comes into the fight off two straight wins — both by submission — including his latest victory against Edmen Shahbazyan back in August, which earned him a Performance of the Night bonus.
The fight between de Ridder and Meerschaert joins a growing lineup on Nov. 9 with a main event still to be determined.
Devin Haney and Eddie Hearn | @EverythingBoxi2, Twitter
Daniel Dubois vs. Anthony Joshua was one of the hottest events of the year, and a ticket request led to a heated confrontation between Eddie Hearn and Devin Haney.
The Matchroom Boxing promoter was already upset with Haney after the boxing champion went public with a request for tickets this past Saturday, blasting Hearn for allegedly not hooking him up on fight day. Hearn responded accordingly, telling Haney to “ask someone else and drop the arrogance.”
Cooler heads did not prevail when Haney eventually made it into London’s Wembley Stadium as he and Hearn were caught on camera arguing in the arena. Hearn told Boxing News that the conversation was not friendly as he felt that Haney’s behavior needed to be addressed.
“It was heated,” Hearn said. “I just couldn’t believe—bear in mind the relationship that I’ve got with Devin, bear in mind everything that we’ve been through—I could not believe he would put that out on social media. Because he was moaning and this is what he was trying to say to me, I said, ‘No, no.’
“I received a message from him at 6 a.m. on the day of the fight saying, ‘I need tickets for Joshua.’ He messaged me about 24 hours before saying, ‘Yo.’ And I had so much going on, I didn’t reply. Then when I replied Friday night, he messaged me back Saturday at 6:00 in the morning, 7:00 in the morning, ‘I need tickets for tonight.’”
Hearn claims he made it clear that the majority of the ringside tickets were handled by Saudi Arabian boxing promoter Turki Alalshikh, whose Riyadh Season helped bankroll the Dubois-Joshua fight, and that several seats were occupied by associates of the fighters competing on Saturday night.
When Hearn told Haney he may have to ask Riyadh Season representatives for a ticket instead, he didn’t receive a reply. Not in private, anyway.
“So then I’m sitting there at the show and it’s like, ‘Wow, Eddie Hearn didn’t get me tickets. He’s so two-faced.’ So I just replied, ‘You’re an arrogant f*cking prick, to be honest with you.’ And I pulled him at the show and I said, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ He said, ‘Hey, hey.’
“I said, ‘What are you doing? 1) You couldn’t be more arrogant. 2) Why are you just not messaging me after I’ve messaged you to say, ‘Come on, Eddie, you sure you can’t help?’ Like, whatever, you put a tweet out? I said, ‘You’re like a little kid. You used to be a good kid, you did. Now, I don’t like this arrogance that I’m seeing from you. Don’t ever do that again.’ Then he’s like, ‘You said something about me in the media.’ I said, ‘No, I’m just answering questions. I don’t represent you. So if I get asked about Devin Haney, I’m going to tell you what I think about the situation. I’ve never said anything disrespectful, but you have.’
“I said, ‘Don’t ever disrespect me again.’”
Hearn and Haney have recent history, with Hearn serving as Haney’s promoter for his fight with Ryan Garcia this past April. Garcia defeated Haney by majority decision in a bout that was shrouded in controversy.
Prior to fight day, Garcia missed weight by three pounds, making him ineligible to win Haney’s WBC super lightweight title; on June 20, Garcia later tested positive for ostarine and the bout was overturned to a no-contest, restoring Haney’s undefeated record (Garcia was also fined $ 1.1 million and received a one-year suspension from competition).
Following the news of Garcia’s positive drug test, Hearn heavily criticized Garcia for his behavior while standing by Haney.
It’s unclear what kind of relationship Hearn and Haney will have egoing forward, but Hearn mentioned that an upcoming documentary on the Wembley Stadium show will be released sometime in the first half of 2025, and that he expects their confrontation to be featured for all to see.
“Anyway, you’ll be able to watch it all on Netflix very soon,” Hearn said.
Watch video of Hearn and Haney’s confrontation below.
Eddie Hearn on his confrontation with Devin Haney at Joshua-Dubois: “I pulled him at the show and said ‘what do you think you’re doing? 1. You couldn’t be more arrogant, 2. Why are you not just messaging me? You put a tweet out? You’re like a little kid… Anyway, you’ll be able… pic.twitter.com/9lSQtukn3E
— EverythingBoxing (@EverythingBoxi2) September 24, 2024
Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson understands that most of his opponents aren’t going to want to stand and trade with him on the feet.
So he wasn’t shocked when Shavkat Rakhmonov promised to out-strike him in their fight this past December, but ultimately ended up taking Thompson down and securing a rear-naked choke submission late in the second round. Thompson doesn’t fault Rakhmonov for taking the path of least resistance — that’s actually smart strategy — but he didn’t love the explanation from the undefeated welterweight about why that happened.
“It is funny when guys are like ‘I’m going to go out there [and knock him out],’” Thompson told MMA Fighting. “I mean even Shavkat was ‘I’m going to go out there and I’m going to beat him striking. He can’t strike with me’ and then he ended up turning into a grappler out there. Of course, his excuse was ‘I had a hurt ankle’ but that dude was running on the treadmill the day before just fine.
“It is funny when guys are out there, all over social media, they want to get you thinking one thing — and obviously it’s kind of smart — they want to get you thinking one thing and then they go do the other.”
Following his win, Rakhmonov revealed he suffered through a serious ankle injury that nearly made him pull out of the fight, but decided to move forward with the bout as scheduled.
Thompson never likes losing, but he has no problem conceding that Rakhmonov was the better man that night. His frustration comes from Rakhmonov trying to explain away his change in strategy after vowing to show he was the better striker.
“I’m going to be honest with you — yes [it’s frustrating],” Thompson said. “Just the fact because like come on man, you’re not fooling anybody. We all know that was your game plan the whole time.”
In fact, Thompson says he had a conversation with Rakhmonov’s head coach Henri Hooft following the fight where he addressed the game plan used to beat him.
The reason the interaction stands out so vividly in his mind is Thompson remembers a similar interaction after he faced Gilbert Burns back in 2021.
“It was funny because afterwards the same coach as Gilbert Burns, and after the Gilbert Burns fight, the coach came up and was like ‘I’m sorry the fight was boring but that’s the only way to beat you,’” Thompson recounted. “He said the same thing after the Shavkat [fight].
“So I knew that’s what they were planning on. He was not planning to strike with me. He wanted to hem me up, get me to the floor and submit me, which he did that very well. That’s part of the game. I’ve got to be ready for that. But especially after the fight, they’re saying that. You can say that during the fight to get me thinking one thing but after the fight, you’re saying ‘I was going to strike with the guy but I hurt my ankle.’ Nah, dude. It got me a little bit. Very few things frustrate me — that got me a little bit. Just admit it. Come on.”
As far as his upcoming fight against Joaquin Buckley at UFC 307 goes , Thompson doesn’t expect the former middleweight to come out and trade with him on the feet no matter what he says.
Much like most of his appearances in the UFC, Thompson is preparing for Buckley to shoot for takedowns and it’s up to him to stop it.
“I think he’s going to shoot,” Thompson said. “I think he’s going to wrestle. You saw what he did with the tall Russian [Nursulton Ruziboev] that made 170. Of course he was 6-foot-5 so the butt cheeks are right there, right at his level so it was easy for him to take him down.
“I’m a very difficult guy to take down. I really am. I pride myself on that. I really make my opponents work to get me down. When they do, they tire themselves out.”
Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.
We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game, and we’re switching to a system of a new article each day for the game.
We tried using a single article for the game, updated with the latest game each day, but it was creating a bit of an unwieldy experience in the comments. So, we’ll have the current day’s game plus the previous three days in each new article. That way, you can catch up if you miss a day.
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The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day.
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Reinier de Ridder has inked a deal with the UFC, multiple people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the news to MMA Fighting. The signing became public Tuesday following a tweet from the Roster Tracker account.
The company has yet to set a date and opponent for “The Dutch Knight’s” octagon debut.
De Ridder (17-2) made short work of Magomedmurad Khasaev this past July in his most recent bout, a first-round knockout under the UAE Warriors banner. That was de Ridder’s first appearance since parting ways with ONE Championship earlier this year, ending his run in the Asian-based promotion with a record of 7-2.
The jiu-jitsu black belt won nine straight between 2013 and 2018 to earn a deal with the ONE, and needed three victories in a row to earn his first shot at a title there.
De Ridder defeated then-two-division king Aung La N Sang twice to steal both his titles, going on to win his next two fights before losing both belts in consecutive matches against Anatoly Malykhin.
MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin contributed to this story.
Dana White | Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images
Five new fighters earned UFC contracts on the latest episode of Contender Series.
On Tuesday night, the seventh episode of season eight of Contender Series took place in Las Vegas at the UFC APEX, and after five fights, UFC CEO Dana White handed out contracts to all five winners on the night, only the second time this season that’s happened.
Voievodkin stuns Schoenfelder
In the main event of the evening, Danylo Voievodkin stunned Bailey Schoenfelder with a first-round submission victory that earned the 24-year-old a UFC contract.
The biggest underdog on the card, Voievodkin didn’t look it in the cage with Schoenfelder, setting the pace right from the opening bell. Schoenfelder tried to stick and move but it didn’t take Voievodkin long to drop the former Minnesota Golden Gopher football player and immediately jump onto a rear-naked choke, getting the finish in just over one minute.
¡En un abrir y cerrar de ojos, se termina! #DWCS pic.twitter.com/6ETqnlyIed
— UFC Español (@UFCEspanol) September 25, 2024
Frunza outlasts Kutsyi
In the penultimate fight of the evening, Daniel Frunza outlasted Vadym Kutsyi to score a second-round TKO and earn a UFC contract.
With an impressive 17-1 resume coming into Contender Series, Kutsyi had a lot of hype coming into the bout but Frunza started out hot, buzzing the Belarussian early with combinations. That lead Kutsyi to fall back on his wrestling for the remainder of the round, even landing some big shots from on top. But once the second round started, Kutsyi’s gas tank was gone and Frunza turned up the heat, overwhelming Kutsyi with strikes to earn the finish and a UFC contract.
VICIOUS ground and pound from Daniel Frunza
Was that finish enough to earn him a UFC contract? #DWCS pic.twitter.com/yP6suDHVNR
— UFC (@ufc) September 25, 2024
Christian submits Mazzeo
In the third fight of the evening, Kevin Christian pulled off a small comeback, submitting Francesco Mazzeo with a triangle armbar in the second round.
An impressive sight at 6-foot-7 as a light heavyweight, Christian got off to a rocky start as Mazzeo scored an early takedown and spent most of the first round in top position. Christian attempted a few submissions but had little success and was also unable to get back to his feet. But in the second round, Mazzeo hit a cardio wall and after securing another takedown, this time Christian was able to throw on a triangle choke, finishing the maneuver quickly with an armbar extension added in for good measure.
After the fight, Dana White wasn’t quite sure whether to sign Christian, but Mick Maynard made the call and ultimately Christian earned his spot in the UFC.
Lock in that T!
Kevin Christian with the textbook triangle choke finish! #DWCS pic.twitter.com/7qW8yEphmY
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) September 25, 2024
Vallejos dazzles against Teague
In the second bout of the evening, Kevin Vallejos put on a dazzling display of striking against Cam Teague, earning a first round knockout and a UFC contract.
Only 22 years old, Vallejos fell short in his first attempt at Contender Series last year when he faced Jean Silva and suffered his first career defeat. This time around the Argentinian fighter had no such issues, lighting Teague up with combinations to the head and body, overwhelming the previously undefeated fighter. It was a near-perfect performance from Vallejos and Dana White awarded the young man a UFC contract as a result.
Didn’t want to leave any doubt this time around!
Kevin Vallejos gets the finish in round one #DWCS pic.twitter.com/6duX29WBgO
— UFC (@ufc) September 25, 2024
Thainara out-works Conceicao
In the opening bout of the evening, Alexia Thainara won a unanimous decision over Rose Conceicao and earned her spot in the UFC.
Thainara and Conceicao actually have a history of training together and while sometimes that can lead fighters to be timid, that certainly wasn’t the case for Thainara who came out guns blazing from the opening bell. Conceicao simply couldn’t keep pace with Thainara’s aggression and activity as she got out-worked every round. Ultimately, Thainara handed her former training partner the first defeat of her career and earned a contract from Dana White.
Alexia Thainara gets the win to kick off week 7 of #DWCS!
Do you think she did enough to earn a UFC contract? pic.twitter.com/wgB482vRYd
Dana White | Photo by Kieran Cleeves/PA Images via Getty Images
Dana White is serious about moving into boxing this time.
Over the past several years, the White has made numerous claims about jumping into the sweet science, even promoting Zuffa boxing as far back as 2017 when Conor McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather. But for as often as White has declared his “in” on boxing, he’s just as often decried the sport for being “so broken that it can’t be fixed.” But earlier this week, White teased another venture into boxing and on Tuesday night he expounded a little on the matter.
“I did my first fight in Ireland and we’ll start announcing stuff here [at the] beginning of 2025,” White told reporters following the latest episode of Contender Series.
White is referring to the Callum Walsh vs. Przemyslaw Runowski fight he attended this past weekend in Dublin, Ireland. White and Walsh’s promoter Tom Loefller have a long-standing relationship and the event was streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.
At this point, it’s unclear what White’s foray into boxing will look like, and the UFC CEO is unwilling to divulge further information at this time. Given White’s many stops and starts with boxing in the past, some are skeptical that this time will be any different, but White insists that this time it’s real.
“Every time I get on the phone with these guys I go, ‘Am I out of my f*cking mind?’ But I think that obviously now is the time or I would have done it then,” White said. “I was kicking around — I was even talking about Anthony Joshua at one time and stuff like that. I’m glad that I pumped the brakes and we waited. Everything is about timing. Is now the time? We’re going to find out…
“There’s a million reasons why now is [the time],” White continued. “If you notice, as far as boxing goes, even as much money as Sheik Turki is throwing into this thing, television deals aren’t really abundant right now. There’s just a lot of things that I think I can do that other people haven’t done yet.”
Promotion is very different between boxing and MMA, primarily due to the Ali Act, which provides federal oversight and certain protections to fighters that do not currently extend to MMA. But White insists he has a plan for how to handle the different promotional aspects of things.
“I have a plan. I’m going to implement that plan and we’ll see how it works,” White said. “We’ll see how this thing works. People have been talking about the demise of boxing for 30 years and we’re still here talking about boxing right now.
“I have always had an idea of how I thought it should be done. I don’t know if that’s possible, but we’re going to find out. I’m coming in guns blazing.”
Alexia Thainara faces off with Rose Conceicao | Nolan Walker, Zuffa LLC
Alexia Thainara and Rose Conceicao were training partners and roommates not that long ago. Now, they fight each other for a UFC contract at Dana White’s Contender Series.
The strawweight prospects previously shared a place in Varginha, Brazil, training alongside UFC star Amanda Ribas at the local gym. They even fought on the same card that year, with Thainara dismantling her opponent in just eight seconds to move to 6-1 as a professional, and Conceicao improving to 5-0 with a second-round submission.
Conceicao left the team months after that, eventually moving to Pitbull Brothers’ team in Natal, and destiny brings them face to face at Tuesday night’s DWCS card in Las Vegas after their original opponents Alice Ardelean and Fatima Kline signed straight deals with the UFC as replacements.
“We spent three months training together,” Conceicao said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “To think we know each other because we trained together could be a trap, because it depends on the mindset of each athlete. They might think they know my game, and end up surprised by a completely new game, so I tried not to worry about it. In the end, I don’t think the fact that we lived together and know each other makes any difference.”
Thainara told MMA Fighting they had no contact since Conceicao left Ribas Family to join another camp, and “a lot has changed” since their training sessions back in 2022.
“It’s completely different,” Thainara said. “We always have new knowledge that makes a big difference, but there are always some triggers. A lot has changed since then. My fighting style is completely different, and I’m sure it’s going to be a war. She’s not here anymore, and we’re both chasing our dreams. There can only be one champion and there’s no second place. She left, I stayed, and we’re both after our dreams. so let’s brawl in there.”
“We had a pleasant time living together but after that, each one followed their own path,” Conceicao said. “I don’t look at people as possible opponents, it’s all natural. I always say we show in the fight who we are outside of it. I respect her as I would respect any other person, but there was no friendship. But we know how competitive the world can be, right? There could be a friendship, but when we have to defend what’s ours, it all changes. I’m cool about it. I’m focused on those around me, spending my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about that.”
Thainara believes Conceicao’s striking has changed a little bit over the past few years “but nothing that scares me.” On the other hand, Conceicao said she hasn’t watched any of Thainara’s recent fights, and plans on showing the division she has the striking and grappling to go to war against the best.
“I see this fight ending by knockout or also by submission, and not because of holes I’ve seen in her game, but because I’ve trained hard for both scenarios,” Conceicao said. “We have a gameplan but when we’re talking about [DWCS], we’re talking about winning impressively. Maybe a boring strategy doesn’t convince [White], and I think that makes this fight easier because you’re there to be signed for your skills.”
Thainara said her gameplan to win Tuesday night — and be offered a deal the CEO of the UFC — is to “brawl and be versatile”.
“The show begins from the weigh-ins, with your style, your look, your hair, and your joy to fight,” Thainara said. “When you don’t do what you love with joy, you won’t put on a show even if you’re the world’s best. There is pressure every time you’re fighting, because you’re not fighting a dummy, but a person who worked hard to be there. Things go right when you’re well-trained and focused on the goal.”
Conceicao, a former LFA interim strawweight champion who’s unbeaten in seven professional bouts, said this match “will put me among the best in the world” in the UFC.
“I don’t wanna just get in the UFC to be part of it and then leave, I want to make a run there,” Conceicao said. “I want to get in and stay there for good. Being in the UFC will change my life completely — and quickly. And I don’t say financially, or because of the attention and things like that, I mean hard work. I’ll have to focus more, change my habits, and completely re-shape my entire life so I can go there and make history because it’s the world’s biggest event with the world’s best athletes.”
Kevin Lee’s Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA debut is officially set.
The promotion officially announced on Tuesday that the one-time UFC interim lightweight title challenger will face Saul Almeida at Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 8 on Nov. 15 at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi.
Lee, who makes his MMA return on Friday night for Lights Out Championship, is staying busy as he takes the gloves off for the first time. After parting ways with the UFC following 18 promotional bouts, along with a one-fight stop at Eagle FC, Lee returned to the octagon and was stopped by Rinat Fakhretdinov in under a minute at UFC Vegas 76 in July 2023. “Motown Phenom” went 11-8 over two stints in the UFC.
Almeida is a Bellator and WSOF veteran, and has 34 pro MMA bouts on his record. The Massachusetts native seeks his first MMA victory since a third-round TKO win in October 2018 for New England regional promotion AMMO Fight League.
Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 8 is headlined by an inaugural bantamweight title fight between past UFC opponents Randy Costa and Brandon Davis.
Jake Paul continues to trot out the skits ahead of his fight with Mike Tyson, and his brother Logan Paul didn’t miss a beat busting his chops for it.
In an video advertising his Betr partnership, Jake donned an obvious fat suit and pretended to bench press “500 pounds.”
See the clip below.
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A post shared by Jake Paul (@jakepaul)
In the video, Jake loudly proclaims himself “the strongest heavyweight in existence,” a nod to the upcoming fight against Tyson, one of the most feared heavyweights in boxing history. Brother Logan was less than impressed, joking about Jake’s phony physique in a comment, “When you due bro?”
Jake—also signed to the PFL—meets Tyson in the boxing ring at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 15. The contest streams live on Netflix. When Tyson steps into the ring, it will be his first professionally sanctioned bout since June 2005. In 2020, he met fellow boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition bout, headlining a card that featured Jake knocking out Nate Robinson on the undercard.
As for Logan, he is currently a featured in-ring performer with WWE.
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