'If You Think Of Signing With ONE Championship – Don't!'

11/10/2024 06:00 AM

LAS VEGAS- Stay away from a particular Asian promotion.

Former ONE Championship two-division champion Reinier de Ridder scored a big win in his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut at UFC Vegas 100 last night (Sat., Nov. 9, 2024) as he submitted Gerald Meerschaert in the third round after a wildly sloppy fight from inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas (watch highlights).

Prior to being one of the biggest free agents in mixed martial arts (MMA), De Ridder was a dominant champion in ONE Championship, a promotion where he fought nine times from 2019 to 2024. Now that he is no longer with ONE Championship, he is warning other fighters to stay away from the Asia-based fight promotion.

"It's been a bad couple of years," De Ridder told the media during the UFC Vegas 100 post-fight press conference (watch here). "The stress I've been put through, the stress my family was put through - even to get fights. It hasn't been nice. It's hard for me to talk bad because I had a couple of good years in ONE as well. In the beginning, they treated me well, but over the past couple of years, it's been really bad. This is something I feel I have to do for other fighters: If you think of signing with ONE Championship – don't. It's that simple. You should not. There is nothing there. There is no fights. You're just wrong if you do it. If you sign there, it is a bad mistake."

At first glance, it may seem like De Ridder might be salty, but he's not wrong. Several MMA fighters are stuck in their ONE Championship contracts and are not being offered fights. Nowadays, it seems like ONE Championship is more of a Muay Thai promotion that features some MMA fights than a MMA promotion.

Adriano Moraes, a former two-time champion, did not fight for 18 months after losing to Demetrious Johnson because the promotion simply did not book him.

De Ridder is not the only athlete to tell fighters not to sign with ONE Championship. Another former champion, Bibiano Fernandes, warned fighters to stay away after his contract expired.

Former UFC fighter Sage Northcutt was recently cut from ONE Championship. While he's too nice to trash his former promotion, he surely has some bad stories, too.

For complete UFC Vegas 100 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.