De Ridder faced Nickal in a middleweight battle between an elite submission specialist and an elite wrestler, but De Ridder leant heavily on his Dutch heritage as he turned to his kickboxing to wear down, then finish Nickal in the second round as he claimed the biggest win of his UFC career so far.
It was a departure from his usual way of claiming victory, with “The Dutch Knight” winning 13 of his 20 career victories by submission. But his strikes proved the difference-maker in Des Moines, as he followed up his submissions of Gerald Meerschaert and Kevin Holland with a TKO finish of Nickal to keep his 100 percent finish rate in UFC bouts intact.
“I’ve been spending so much time in the US, I just wanted to check if I’m still Dutch, so I tried the knees, and they’re still working!” he grinned as he visited with Michael Bisping after his victory.
“I was a bit surprised, because I noticed during the fight that he was fading a little bit. And I thought, ‘It’s the knees,’ because he kept going like this, fading a bit. And then I thought, I’m going to throw a hook and the knee, and try and get him again. And then he was kind of out of there already.”
De Ridder then turned his attention to his next challenge as he called for a fight against former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
“I wanted to say this is the best American wrestler you have, right? Now give me the best American striker. Strickland, you’re up, buddy! Let’s go!”
UFC Des Moines: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Cory Sandhagen def. Deiveson Figueiredo via TKO (injury) – Round 2, 4:08
- Reinier De Ridder def. Bo Nickal via knockout (knee to the body) – Round 2, 1:53
- Daniel Rodriguez def. Santiago Ponzinibbio via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 1:12
- Montel Jackson def. Daniel Marcos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Serhiy Sidey def. Cameron Smotherman via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Mason Jones def. Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Yana Santos def. Miesha Tate via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Azamat Bekoev def. Ryan Loder via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:44
- Gillian Robertson def. Marina Rodriguez via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:07
- Quang Le def. Gaston Bolanos via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:15
- Thomas Petersen def. Don’Tale Mayes via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26)
- Juliana Miller def. Ivana Petrovic via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
