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Original Description
Reinier de Ridder speaks with Karyn Bryant, Michael Chiesa and Anthony Smith after his faceoff with Brendan Allen at #UFCVancouver ceremonial weigh-ins.
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Video Transcript
for one half of our main event on
Saturday night. Welcome back. Welcome.
Good to see you again right near Dera.
Let's give you a second here to get your
headset on.
Here we go. Here we go. There we go. All
right. Very nice. So, I feel like we
just saw you uh in Abu Dhabi uh coming
off that win over Robert Whitaker. When
you look back at that fight, what do you
like about your performance? H
what I like is that I was able to do it
strikingly mostly and that I was able to
show that in the fourth and fifth round,
I'm still there. I'm good to go and I'm
I'm was able to hang with a a champion
like him. Um and there's some a few
things that I I'd like to work on. I
don't want to get hit like that ever
again.
But uh yeah, was looking back I'm I'm
happy with it. Nice watch, dude. Come
on.
Yeah, there we go. Don't Don't get him
started. Don't get it started right
here. So, you know, you you were
scheduled to fight Fluffy Anthony
Hernandez. You got a different grappler
in Brendan Allen. But did that make any
uh changes in your own camp or was it
sort of business as usual in terms of
what you did to prepare?
Yeah, the first couple weeks when it was
still fluffy, I was really really going
hard on the cardio to be prepared for
what he brings. Uh so it was nice when
the opponent switched, I was able to
focus a bit more on technique,
specifically preparing for him and um
giving my body a little bit more time to
um to recover. I'm hiding my watch.
Uh, I wanted to ask you, you know, fifth
fight in in a in a 12 month span. Do you
prefer to be this active? Does it not
bother you that you haven't had much
time between fights?
Uh, no. It is what I what I wanted, but
maybe be careful what you wish for a
little bit. Yeah.
And headed into this fight, did you
really you didn't really have to make
any adjustments like you said from the
conditioning to fluffy to this change
with Brennan? What about from like a
technical standpoint with the technical
skills?
Yeah, they're pretty similar. Both of
them box very well, I think, especially
in the pocket. Um, Fluffy wrestles a bit
better. I think Brendan's jiu-jitsu is a
bit better. Um, but I I try not to worry
too much about what he brings. I think
my jiu-jitsu is going to be way better
and um that's what I've been working.
What do you think is more important in
this fight? Is it is it what happens
technically in there or is it really a
mindset thing?
Uh, both, I think. Um, because we've
seen Brendan fade a little bit in the
later rounds in uh previous fights, so
that must be something he's been working
on. Um, and he starts very quickly. He
starts very, very well in the first
round. So, I think that first round is
going to be very, very important.
Whoever uh gets dominant first,
you know, you said you didn't want to
get punched by Robert Whitaker, but
Robbie Lawler has been the man you've
been working with. So, I don't know. Uh,
what's that relationship like between
the two of you? What what have you
gleaned from him and how helpful has he
been?
Yeah, it was very helpful. Um,
specifically because he's southpaw as
well. like a lot of small little
footwork details we've been working on.
And he's a bit of a hater like me, so
that's fun. We we we we get to laugh a
little bit and uh he didn't mind coming
on for this fight either. So, uh yeah,
it's nice nice to working with Robbie a
lot. Yeah.
Yeah.
Now, we'll take a step back from the
fighting stuff. How do you like Canada
so far? I mean, Vancouver this time of
year is great. Just what's been the
overall reception with you being here
and headlining a show here in uh the
Great North?
Yeah, it's been very very cool. Um, a
little chilly coming from Florida, so I
had a I needed a couple days to adjust,
but I brought my wife, I brought my
kids, so they've been enjoying Vancouver
as well. And uh, it's been great. I went
to the Conucks game here.
Nice.
Where did they leave this ice?
I know.
But you were bummed there were no hockey
fights, I heard though. Right.
Yeah. Yeah, I was a bit bummed out, but
it was it was cool to be here. I see the
crowd already. Um, so yeah, it's going
to be good.
I Oh, go ahead.
Oh, yeah. Last one for me. Can you talk
about your transition uh to the UFC and
and and how it's got to feel different
and every everything looks different,
the staff is different. It's it's just a
different ballgame. Did you struggle
with that at the beginning?
Yeah, definitely. It's a big step up.
And you know, as as as well as I know,
when you start this thing, when you
start martial arts, you want to be in
the UFC. You don't want to be anywhere
else. And then for me at the basically
like at a later time when I achieved a
lot of stuff already in in a different
organization, it was like it was a lot
to finally come here. Finally achieved
that dream. Um and I've been chasing it
all this year.
Well, you're glad you're here.
Yeah, exactly. Well, I was just going to
say a former two division champion, so
you're currently number four.
Do you see this as a title eliminator?
And if so, why do you think you're the
one who could beat the champion?
Yeah. Um, I've been saying this a lot,
but uh um Brendan did very well against
Immov. He did very well against Fluffy.
Both of them weren't able to finish uh
Brendan. I think if I can if I can put
him away, that's a definite statement
that I'm next.
Nice.
Um and I think a fight with me and
Hamzad would be very cool just for the
grappling exchanges, um the clinch
exchanges, the takedowns, the jiu-jitsu.
Um so that's what I'm hoping.
Where's my wallet? Does somebody I want
to give my money for that fight right
now. I want to see that fight. Thank you
so much for joining us here. Uh it's
really just been a pleasure and your
high activity rate just keeps all of us
happy here in the UFC as well. So uh
best of luck to you on Saturday and
thanks so much for joining us folks.
Want to remind you what time you can see
this man throwing down. Our prelims do
get going at 4 Eastern and the main card
is at 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific. All of the
action is on ESPN Plus and you can find
us with the post show right after the
main event as well.
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