Reinier de Ridder, Roman Dolidze collide in new weight division at UFC Sacramento

The UFC light heavyweight division is bolstered by another meaningful addition as middleweight strikers Reinier de Ridder and Roman Dolidze are set to collide at UFC Sacramento on August 22. The bout will headline the card's main section at Golden 1 Center in California's capital city.

De Ridder, a former multi-division champion at ONE Championship who captured both middleweight and light heavyweight gold with that promotion, carries a 21-4 professional record and will compete at 205 pounds for the first time since before his UFC promotional debut in 2024, when he scored a first-round finish over Magomedmurad Khasaev under the UAE Warriors banner. Dolidze enters the matchup with a 15-5 slate and also transitions from middleweight to light heavyweight.

Both fighters arrive in similar circumstances: each has dropped their last two contests. In an unusual parallel, de Ridder and Dolidze each suffered a fourth-round loss in 2025, followed by three-round decision defeats in March. Dolidze, the Georgian veteran, previously competed at 205 pounds in June 2024 and earned a decision victory over perennial contender Anthony Smith at UFC 303 in 2024. De Ridder boasts a higher finish rate at 86 percent compared to Dolidze's 73 percent, signaling the "Dutch Knight's" propensity for exciting finishes.