Reinier De Ridder paid Sean Strickland the ultimate compliment in his post-fight callout on Saturday night – much to the surprise of fans.
The Dutch star viciously stopped wrestling legend Bo Nickal in the co-main event of UFC Des Moines, before naming Strickland as his next planned victim. However, it was the phrasing that De Ridder used that seemed to make fans laugh.
The former ONE Championship double champion gave an assured and hilarious post-fight interview to Michael Bisping. There, he claimed that Strickland was America’s ‘best striker’ and called for the fight after landing a major scalp of Nickal.
Following his victory on Saturday night, Reinier De Ridder was quick to call his shot on the microphone in front of a raucous Iowa crowd. After leaving Nickal on the floor, he noted that he had defeated America’s top wrestler, meaning that he needed to now take on the best striker the nation had to offer.
“I tried them knees and they’re still working,” he joked with Bisping. “I was a bit surprised because I noticed during the fight that he was fading a little bit and I thought that it was the knees so I said I should throw the knee and the hook, try to get him again and then he was kind of out of there already.
“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.”
That description of Strickland tickled a few UFC fans, who would rank him far from the top spot in terms of pure striking from an American. “Damn,” one wrote on X after the fact. “If Strickland is the best striker U.S has to give we got problems.”
The fight itself between De Ridder and Nickal was an interesting affair as the wrestling star, rightfully, was trepidatious about grappling with a renowned BJJ expert. The pair were on the feet a lot, before he eventually did get the Dutchman down and even looked for a submission after some ground and pound.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Unfortunately, he couldn’t get that finish and ended up being reversed and ending the round back on his feet. In the second, De Ridder did a solid job of working his Thai boxing, which eventually got him in position to land big knees.
With Nickal continuing to put himself against the cage, De Ridder attempted to land a knee up the middle, which didn’t land flush.
And then, with Nickal retreating again, the Dutchman landed another knee up the middle, this time landing flush to the body of Nickal, sinking him to the ground and finishing the fight.
Bo NickalReinier de RidderSean StricklandUFCUFC Des Moines
