Reinier de Ridder Quotes & Statements

“I'm happy it didn't happen because he would have beaten my a** worse than Brendan Allen did that night. In that state, I don't think I beat anybody, to be honest”

– via the Standemup podcast (March 2, 2026), reflecting on the nixed short notice fight against Israel Adesanya.

“I think he would do very well at light heavyweight. His wrestling in a division very low on great wrestling, I think he would do very good there as well”

– ia Submission Radio (January 2026), sharing a "brutally honest" take on Khamzat Chimaev's potential in the 205—pound division.

“I still feel like sh*t, when I walk up the stairs I'm out of breath... I don't want to be too specific because then I'll never get a rematch, but there's some physical stuff that's wrong and I'm going to see if I can fix it before I come back.”

– shared his health status after fighting Breandan Allen via Submission Radio

“His grappling is good, but a bit sloppy at times. He falls off the back very frequently, so maybe that’s something he’s adjusted by now. He has decent takedowns and decent takedown defense, not too great. But I think the thing that he lacks in the most, he kind of fades in the later rounds. He starts very hard, very sharp, and very good in the first round... but then in the later rounds, he’s not the same guy. We’ll see for this one”

– shares his opinion on Allen's weakness.

“The first few times I came in, he was there. I just went up to him and said 'hi and what’s up and let’s train,' but he didn’t want to train. I respect that as well. It is what it is. We’ll find out now. I don’t care too much about training. I’ll train with anybody. It's not like you’re going to find out something that you’re going to use against me in the fight, in my mind. He didn’t want to train, so it didn’t happen.”

– shares his training experience with Allen at Kill Cliff FC.

“Costa would have been fun just because it’s a fun dude—the entire buildup would have been cool. But he put up too many stipulations. He wanted a catchweight. He wanted three rounds instead of five. So we basically said if you don’t want it, you don’t get it, and we moved on to Brendan”

– reacted to Paulo Costa for rejecting a bout

“I would say if you get an opportunity like that, don’t be a bitch. Just say yes. Don’t put any stipulations there, and he would have had a great chance to be back into title conversation. But he put all those stipulations there, and we said we’ll move on and see if there’s somebody else who just wants to take the fight. Maybe one day. It would be fun to get all the buildup with him someday.”

– reacted to Paulo Costa for rejecting a bout.

“Shit Happens, get well soon”

“I fell asleep on the couch, did I miss anything? Just playing, congrats to both warriors. Great fight!”

“I fell asleep on the couch, did I miss anything ? Just playing, congrats to both warriors. Great fight!”