Khamzat Chimaev becomes an incredibly difficult puzzle for the middleweight division to solve.
After he became the middleweight champion, Chimaev shouted an opponent who could be his first title defense and offer an interesting challenge.
We now know that the next man trying to break the unbeaten run of the title holder will be determined by two upcoming fights.
Dana White announced that Reinier de Ridder will be confronted against Anthony Hernandez on October 18, with the result of this matchup and the main event of UFC Paris next month that is used to decide the next challenger.
One of the four hunters in the race to challenge Chimaev has started some thoughts about how he would prepare for such a task.
Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty images
Reinier de Ridder suggests that he would like to bring former opponent Bo Nickal to his camp to train for Khamzat Chimaev
After the post of Khamzat Chimaev on social media, it seemed that Reinier de Ridder might be the next one in line to face the new middleweight champion.
If he can expand his winning series to five to five in less than a year of the promotion, this could be good, depending on the way the victory is.
'The Dutch Knight' was asked in a recent interview with MMA Junkie that he already has grabs at a high level with which he can train in Kill Cliff FC in Florida to prepare him for Chimaev's struggling.
De Ridder continued to say that he could reach a former opponent of him, who became the Dutch hunter who defeated him the ranking of the middleweight.
“I thought I could try to send him a message, but if I could get Bo Nickal, that would be great. That would be great. That would be great for this fight. We will see.”
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
In an interview at the MMA hour in April last year, Nickal, while he was still unbeaten, claimed that he would “Ragdoll” if they meet because of his superior struggle.
De Ridder said that he “doubts” his former enemy or the two gyms “where she both training would accept the offer, despite how close they are.
“Yes, that is true, but that can also be part of the problem, because I don't think they are too open for cross -training there, but we will see, I will send him a message, see what he says.”
Reinier de Ridder wonders whether Training Partners was a problem for Dricus du Plessis prior to UFC 319
Reinier de Ridder is clearly not worried about not having the right training partners he has to prepare for an opponent such as Khamzat Chimaev.
However, he wondered if this was a factor that influenced the performance of Dricus du Plessis on UFC 319.
Although there was always a good chance that Chimaev could dominate the champion with his wrestling, Du Plessis apparently had no answers to the challenger.
“Something I thought about in the past year with regard to Dricus and a bit with whom he actually trains there in South Africa? He is always ready and he has shown big fights and achieved a lot to be there,” said De Ridder when he spoke with Mma Junkie. ”
“But a few years ago he still came here to kill Cliff. It's just something that I wondered, as he even has strangers at a high level to train with that, because that may be something he misses, I would say.”