Reinier de Ridder Hopes To Bring in UFC Contender For Camp, Who Promised He’d ‘Ragdoll’ Khamzat Chimaev

After recently grabbing the UFC 185-pound crown, Khamzat Chimaev made a call-up to Reinier de Ridder for his probable maiden defense. While RDR isn’t facing him just yet, there’s no denying that Chimaev would be a very tough puzzle to solve at middleweight.

For now, Reinier de Ridder headlines UFC Fight Night 262 on October 18 in Vancouver against another streaking UFC 185-pounder making his case for gold. The result of which, along with UFC Paris, will probably determine a clear available top contender for ‘Borz’ to fight within a timeframe.

Even so, the Dutchman hasn’t given up on hopes of fighting Chimaev and has already said he’d sign on the dotted line for it if the opportunity presents itself. de Ridder was recently asked in a media interview about holding camp at Kill Cliff FC in Florida to prep for Chimaev’s wrestling.

RDR wanted to veer to his old Bo Nickal for this, given the opponent’s wrestling prowess and history they have together.

I was thinking, I might try and send him a message, but if I can get Bo Nickal out, that’d be amazing. That’d be great. That would be amazing for this fight especially…Yeah, that’s true, but that might be a part of the problem as well because I don’t think they’re too open to cross-training over there but we’ll see, I’ll send him a message.

Reinier de Ridder to MMAJunkie’s Mike Bohn

Nickal was a red-hot UFC 185-pounder and a clean prospect to make it big someday. POTUS Donald Trump’s golfing buddy and close acquaintance, he even made promises of utterly defeating Khamzat Chimaev someday.

The former ONE FC two-weight champ crumpled and hype-checked Nickal with liver shots and a second-round step-in knee TKO at UFC on ESPN 67. However, ‘The Dutch Knight’ refused to bill that he fraud-checked Nickal as the latter had much to go on in his prime.

The University of Iowa’s NCAA Division I program is unparalleled in its success, standing as a national exemplar. The Hawkeyes are 37-time Big Ten Conference victors and stand #2 in NCAA competition history. They have won 24 National Championships and are well known for their clash with the #1 PSU.

🚨 🤼‍♂️ Reinier de Ridder intends to reach out to Bo Nickal to assist him in a training camp for a potential Khamzat Chimaev fight, via @MikeBohn pic.twitter.com/Hu3INn8ef6

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 20, 2025

With three-time NCAA Division I national champ and PSU alum Nickal losing to RDR, the Dutch ace got a post-fight care package from IOWA Wrestling. PSU recently outworked Iowa 30-8 in the State College B1G Wrestling, and the friction is palpable.

However, de Ridder holds no competitive contempt or otherwise after UFC Des Moines and has said quite a few times that he’s ready to train with Nickal. On the flip side, RDR doubts that it was the lack of organizational training and partners that caused defending champ Dricus Du Plessis to lose out to Chimaev.

Did absence of partners contribute to Dricus Du Plessis’s lack of prep? Reinier de Ridder raises the question

It is lonely at the top, and perhaps DDP understood that the hard way. ‘Stillknocks’ was 3-0 in title stints over names like Sean Strickland (X2) and Israel Adesanya. While there was always the chance that Khamzat Chimaev and his forward pressure would be too costly, prep could have helped the matter.

Du Plessis is always a striker first, working off a special switch stance. Team CIT Performance Institute coach Morne Visser did they say they were working on Greco-Roman wrestling. But instead of sparring with top names, Visser challenged his gymmates that no one would be able to take him down.

Would the right amount of training partner have helped? The right training partners aren’t a concern for Reinier de Ridder when preparing for an opponent like Khamzat Chimaev. But for a predominant and prolific striker, it might have made all the difference.

Something I’ve thought about regarding Dricus for over the last year and a bit is who is he actually training with there in South Africa? He’s always ready and he’s shown great fights and achieved a lot…But, a couple of years ago, he was still coming over to Kill Cliff here. It’s just something I’ve wondered about, like does he even have high-level wrestlers to train with over there, because that might be something he’s missing.

Reinier de Ridder further said

Chimaev’s wrestling prowess posed a formidable challenge to the champion, leaving Du Plessis seemingly at a loss. That could have always been the case, but DDP seemed to be without an answer. Perhaps volume sparring with good wrestling partners could have imbued in him what to do in such situations.

ALSO READ: Dricus Du Plessis Fighting Style Analysis: Why He’s So Hard to Beat