Former ONE double champion and current UFC middleweight fighter, Reinier de Ridder, has expressed his desire for a bout against Khamzat Chimaev.
De Ridder was quoted by Bloody Elbow as saying:
Yeah, I was just training with [Sean] Strickland over the last couple of weeks so it wouldn’t be as nice to call him out I guess, but why not Khamzat [Chimaev] – that would be a nice matchup grappling-wise, that would be cool.
De Ridder last stepped into the cage against Gerald Meerschaert on November 10 at UFC Vegas 100. This fight, which was stopped in the third round, ended in de Ridder's favor via a submission hold. He holds a record of 18 wins and 2 losses.
Chimaev's most recent fight was against Robert Whittaker in October of this year at UFC 308. In this match, which was halted in the first round, Khamzat secured a victory through submission. He boasts an impressive record of 14 wins and no losses, while Robert holds 26 wins and 8 losses.