Fighters are in the very last phases of their preparations with UFC Abu Dhabi just a few hours' drive.
For Reinier de Ridder this means that he is close to the greatest chance of his career with his first UFC Main event.
The last man who defeated Robert Whittaker, sent caution to the knight before July 26, where 'The Dutch Knight' will try to continue his rapid climb in the middleweight division.
Three consecutive finishes quickly climb the ranks 'RDR' after they were debuted in the Octagon in November last year.
On the day of his greatest fight so far De Ridder bundled the forces with a former opponent who played a major role in his career before he arrived in the UFC.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Reiner de Ridder completes the final preparations alongside former opponent Aung La n Sang
Before Reinier de Ridder signed at the UFC, he was one of the best MMA stars in one championship.
It may not have ended well between the two parties, but 'The Dutch Knight' was still able to achieve a lot after he was ruled as a two -weight world champion.
Both title of the knight won against the same opponent, Aung La n Sang who has a huge supporter in one.
'RDR' defeated the Burmese Python 'in back-to-back meetings, and first took his middleweight belt before hit him for the light heavyweight title in their Rematch.
Since then, the two men have become training partners and teammates now that they both train from Kill Cliff FC in Florida.
Fans responded to a video that Aung LA posted on his Instagram and showed that the two men put some light work on the day of the first UFC Main event of De Ridder.
The post even received a message from 'Good Luck Boys' from someone's current heavyweight champion, Oumar 'Back Back' Kane.
“I can't believe that we actually cheer for RDR. That is really sportiness. '
“Let's go Goooo.”
“When enemy becomes a friend.”
“Make us proud.”
“Let's go guys. Get that hand lifted! I can't wait. '
The size of Reinier de Ridder can be a huge factor at UFC Abu Dhabi
The weight classes of one championship are not the same as the UFCs because of the promotion attempt to remove drastic weight reductions.
Even with that in mind, however, Reinier de Ridder is used to combating larger opponents who participated in higher weight classes before he signed at the UFC.
His size has been a prominent factor in all its UFC performances and his face-off with Robert Whittaker prior to Fight Night suggested that this could be the case again.
While Whittaker spoke about wanting to test on light heavyweight, the former welterweight has never been the largest competition on 185 pounds.