Rene de Ridder’s move to light heavyweight is officially off to a strong start, and Roman Dolidze learned the hard way that playing the submission game with the former ONE Championship titleholder can be a dangerous choice when they fought at UFC Sacramento on Saturday night.
Round 1 – Dolidze went to work with leg kicks early before closing the distance and getting into the clinch. He quickly pulled guard and attacked a leg lock, but de Ridder freed himself and went to work from top position.
Dolidze went fully inverted while hunting for a kneebar, putting de Ridder in some danger. De Ridder didn’t panic. Instead, he stayed patient and fired punches from above while Dolidze remained committed to the leg.
The shots weren’t huge at first, but they kept landing. More importantly, Dolidze wasn’t doing much besides hanging onto the submission attempt.
De Ridder eventually spun out, freed his leg and settled into top position. Dolidze buried his head to avoid the incoming punches, but that strategy didn’t last very long.
The punches started adding up quickly. Dolidze covered up and ate unanswered shots while continuing to reach for leg locks that simply weren’t there. Every failed attempt gave de Ridder another opportunity to land from above.
Dolidze’s game plan became increasingly confusing. Going all-in on leg attacks against someone with de Ridder’s ground game was already a gamble, but once it became clear they weren’t working, there didn’t appear to be much of a Plan B.
De Ridder was more than happy to take advantage.
He eventually slid into mount and continued pouring on the damage. Dolidze turned onto his stomach looking for an escape, but that only opened the door for de Ridder to unload with more unanswered strikes and force the stoppage.
With the finish, de Ridder picked up his first victory in the UFC’s light heavyweight division and made quite the statement in his new weight class.
Official: Reinier de Ridder def. Roman Dolidze via R1 TKO, 4:01
