On August 22nd, the UFC returns to Sacramento. Middleweight fighters Reinier de Ridder and Roman Dolidze move up to light-heavyweight. Both men take on each other in a 3-round fight at the Golden 1 Center.
Multiple sources have confirmed the fight to Heavy.com after an initial report from Brazilian journalist Léo Guimarães.
New Weightclass, New Chances
Reinier de Ridder signed with the UFC in 2024. The Dutch fighter was a former two-division champion from ONE Championship. De Ridder made his highly anticipated debut at the Meta Apex against Gerald Meerschaert. In the third round, de Ridder tapped out Meerschaert via arm-triangle choke. A good debut followed by a quick win two months later against Kevin Holland. De Ridder kept on going and also finished the undefeated Bo Nickal via TKO in the second round. In the Summer of last year, de Ridder fought his first main event in the UFC against former champion Robert Whittaker. The Dutchman fought a tough fight and won after five rounds by unanimous decision.
De Ridder was on track to fight for a title and was supposed to fight Anthony Hernandez in an unofficial title eliminator. Hernandez got injured and was replaced by Brendan Allen. De Ridder started well, but at the end of the second round, he gassed heavily. Allen took over and won when de Ridder’s corner stopped the fight between the fourth and fifth rounds due to exhaustion. The Dutchman blamed his high activity rate, having fought six times in a single year. To recover, de Ridder took a five-month break before returning this past March against Caio Borralho. The Brazilian fighter dominated the bout, defeating de Ridder via unanimous decision after three rounds. De Ridder later admitted that cutting weight down to the middleweight division had negatively affected his performance. Moving forward, he is stepping up to the light-heavyweight division to face Roman Dolidze.
Longer In The UFC, The Same Thoughts
Dolidze signed with the UFC as an undefeated fighter in 2018, but a USADA violation delayed his promotional debut until 2020. Dolidze started his UFC journey in the light-heavyweight division but decided after two wins that he wanted to proceed as a middleweight. Although Dolidze lost his middleweight debut against Trevin Giles, he bounced back with a four-fight winning streak, featuring knockout finishes over Kyle Daukaus and Jack Hermansson. In 2023, Dolidze faced Marvin Vettori in London. A victory over the Italian would have propelled him close to the division’s top 5, but Dolidze ultimately lost via a controversial unanimous decision.
Following a subsequent defeat to Nassourdine Imavov, it appeared his title aspirations were temporarily frozen. Dolidze revived his run by defeating Anthony Smith, Kevin Holland, and Marvin Vettori in a rematch. Last August, he faced Anthony Hernandez, but was completely outmatched by the American and finished via a fourth-round rear-naked choke. Unfortunately for the Georgian, his fortunes didn’t change earlier this year when he dropped a decision to Christian Leroy Duncan. Following these setbacks, Dolidze decided to return to the light-heavyweight division, where he will now welcome fellow former middleweight Reinier de Ridder.
UFC Sacramento – (August 22)
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Gregory Rodrigues
- Reinier de Ridder vs. Roman Dolidze
- Carli Judice vs. Jeisla Chaves
- MarQuel Mederos vs. Mason Jones
- Jackson McVey vs. Wes Schultz
Middleweights Move Up to Light-Heavyweight in Sacramento