Reinier de Ridder had moments of doubt about his future following UFC Vancouver.
A former two-division champion in ONE, de Ridder made speedy waves after signing with the UFC in 2024, profitable his first 4 fights, together with a victory over former champion Robert Whittaker. “The Dutch Knight” discovered himself on the cusp of a title shot, however that each one got here crashing down in October, when “RDR” acquired stopped by Brendan All at UFC Vancouver.
Afterward, a lot was manufactured from de Ridder’s collapse in the course of the bout as he gassed out early within the struggle, and talking with media in the course of the UFC 326 Media Day, “RDR” acknowledged that combating 5 instances in 11 months wreaked havoc on his physique.
“Just on all levels, my bloodwork, everything was in the trash,” de Ridder mentioned 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 reality, issues had been so dangerous for de Ridder that he wasn’t simply affected on struggle night time, however for a very long time afterward. So a lot in order that he started to surprise if this was the tip of his combating profession.
“At least I knew what was wrong with me at that point,” de Ridder mentioned of his analysis. “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 regardless of the hardship it brought about, de Ridder admits that if he had been put in the identical place once more, he’d in all probability do the identical factor.
“With the opportunity there, most likely I make the same dumb decision to fight again, because it was too cool,” de Ridder mentioned. “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 well being points look like solved now. He returns to motion this weekend in opposition to Caio Borralho within the co-main occasion of UFC 326 in Las Vegas.
