At UFC 311 on Saturday night, the main card will kick off with what should be a fun bout between Kevin Holland and Reinier de Ridder. Holland is a seasoned UFC veteran and will look to use his experience to his advantage against a fighter in de Ridder making just his second appearance in UFC. Going into this bout, de Ridder is a slight favorite as he looks to improve to 2-0 in the promotion and 1-0 in pay-per-view fights.
Here, we have broken down Kevin Holland vs Reinier de Ridder ahead of their bout from Los Angeles. Continue reading to get our keys to victory for both men, as well as our best bet for what should be an interesting fight. Will Holland’s experience carry him to a win or will de Ridder’s ability to win in multiple ways give him the edge? We attempt to answer that question in this preview of their matchup on Saturday.
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This fight will take place at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, January 18, 2025.
Kevin Holland
Kevin Holland comes into this fight having lost three of his last four fights. His most recent loss came to Roman Dolidze, with Holland suffering a first-round knockout in that fight. At Sportzino, Holland is the slimmest of underdogs going into this UFC pay-per-view fight. He will look to use his experience edge to his advantage in this fight as he has had 23 fights in his UFC career compared to just one for de Ridder.
Holland’s in a bizarre place in his career in UFC, as he has stated that he has no interest in fighting for championships. Instead, he has said that he would prefer to go for the record for the most fights in UFC history, which stands at 45 fights (and counting) for Jim Miller. With that being the case, it stands to reason that Holland may not care if he wins or loses each individual fight beyond doing just enough to keep himself on the UFC roster.
As far as this fight goes, the key for Holland will be to keep this fight off of the ground. Holland is at his best when he is striking, especially when he is going into this fight with a reach advantage over de Ridder. But with de Ridder being better on the ground, Holland will need to ensure that he isn’t taken down or that can eat away at rounds and diminish his chances of victory.
Reinier de Ridder
Reinier de Ridder won his UFC debut in November, claiming a third-round submission win over Gerard Meerschaert. It wasn’t a particularly impressive performance from de Ridder prior to the third-round, but he did enough to win in his UFC debut, which is all that matters. Now the Dutchman goes into his first pay-per-view bout as a slight favorite as he looks to improve to 2-0 as a UFC fighter and start to build a case for facing a ranked opponent.
For de Ridder, there are more paths to victory than there are Holland in this fight. Holland almost has to win this fight with his striking, while de Ridder can win both with his striking and his ability to get the fight to the ground. But de Ridder will almost certainly try to get his opponent on the mat early and often in this fight to take away Holland’s chance at taking this fight.
Against Meerschaert, de Ridder attempted 13 takedowns in less than three full rounds of action. He was only successful on five of those 13 takedown attempts, but his aggression and his persistence in continuing to try and take the fight where he was most comfortable was encouraging. It could also be very effective against someone in Holland who just wants to get out of this fight healthy, win or lose.
Kevin Holland vs Reinier de Ridder Prediction
Our best bet for Holland vs de Ridder from UFC 311 is for Reinier de Ridder to get the win inside of Intuit Dome. Not only does the Dutchman have more ways to win than the American does, he is also more focused on winning fights. Look for all of that to work in de Ridder’s favor as he should move to 2-0 as a UFC fighter.
