Reinier de Ridder Moves to 205 Pounds After 5 Weight Cuts Broke His Body
Updated
Updated · MMA Mania · Aug 21
Reinier de Ridder Moves to 205 Pounds After 5 Weight Cuts Broke His Body
3 articles · Updated · MMA Mania · Aug 21
Summary
Reinier de Ridder will make his light heavyweight debut against Roman Dolidze at UFC Sacramento after abandoning middleweight, where he said repeated cuts left him physically broken.
Five cuts in 1 year at 185 pounds led to a metabolic crash against Brendan Allen and a cautious loss to Caio Borralho, convincing the 6-foot-4 Dutchman to stop dieting year-round.
At middleweight, de Ridder typically walked around at about 215 pounds, meaning he had to shed roughly 30 pounds before weigh-ins.
The move to 205 has let him train twice a day again, and he said that for the first time in his UFC run he can focus on fighting rather than surviving the scale.
With the light heavyweight division short on established contenders and Dolidze also stepping up from middleweight, a strong showing in Sacramento could quickly reshape de Ridder's UFC path.