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- What: UFC 311
- Who: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
- Date: Saturday, January 18, 2025
- Location: Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California
- Time: Early Prelims (6:00 p.m. ET), Prelims (8:00 p.m. ET), Pay-Per-View Card (10:00 p.m. ET)
- How to Watch: Early Prelims (ESPN+) Prelims (ESPNews), Main Card (ESPN+ PPV)
The first pay-per-view card on the UFC schedule in 2025 takes place on Saturday, January 18, when the promotion heads to the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. That fight card, UFC 311, is headlined by a lightweight title fight between UFC champion Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan. In the co-main event, UFC bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili puts his title on the line against Umar Nurmagomedov. The opening fight on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 311 is a middleweight matchup between Kevin Holland and Reinier de Ridder.
Kevin Holland (26-12-0-1) opened his UFC career with an 8-2 record between August 2018 and December 2020. Things have been up and down since then for the 32-year-old. He has compiled a 5-7-0-1 mark following his first 10 UFC fights. Holland is 1-3 in his past four fights and is coming off a October 2024 corner stoppage TKO loss to Roman Dolidze at UFC 307.
Reinier de Ridder (18-2) is a former two-division champion with ONE, winning titles at middleweight and light heavyweight. The 34-year-old De Ridder made his UFC debut in November 2024, earning a submission over Gerald Meerschaert on a UFC Fight Night card.
Before we look at the best bets for Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder on the UFC 311 PPV card, check out the best UFC betting sites and where you can find our betting picks for the UFC 311 main event: Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan 2.
UFC 311: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder betting picks
| Fighters |  |  |  |  |
| Kevin Holland | -105 | -108 | -110 | -120 |
| Reinier de Ridder | -115 | -112 | -120 | -106 |
UFC 311: Kevin Holland betting breakdown
Kevin Holland has a diverse skill set but is mainly known for his striking. He uses volume over power on the feet, switching up his stances and mixing up his targets. In his decision loss to Jack Della Maddalena, Holland went to the head of his opponent 46 percent of the time, 25 percent to the body, and 27 percent to Della Maddalena’s legs. In that contest, Holland attempted 356 significant strikes and landed 127. Against Michael “Venom” Page, Holland struggled to close the distance and deal with the movement and speed of his opponent.
In addition to his striking talents, Holland is more than capable on the mat, with seven career submission victories, including a recent D’arce choke stoppage of Michael Chiesa.
One knock against Holland is that he sometimes puts entertainment above victory, which worked against him when he refused to use his grappling in a loss to the more talented striker Stephen Thompson in December 2022. With his record being what it is, Holland very much needs a win or at least a strong showing at UFC 311.
Holland lands 4.24 significant strikes per minute with an accuracy of 49 percent. His striking defense is 50 percent, and he absorbs 3.21 significant strikes per minute. Holland has a 38 percent takedown accuracy and lands 0.83 takedowns per 15 minutes. His takedown defense is 54 percent.
UFC 311: Reinier de Ridder betting breakdown
Reinier de Ridder inked a deal with the UFC in September 2024. At the time, De Ridder was on a 1-2 run. He had lost both his ONE middleweight and light heavyweight titles to Anatoly Malykhin in 2022 and 2024 and was coming off a TKO win over Magomedmurad Khasaev on a UAE Warriors card in July 2024 when he signed with the UFC. De Ridder, an experienced grappler, won his ONE titles with wins over Aung La N Sang in 2020 and 2021.
In his UFC debut, De Ridder’s striking did not look good. He was slow and easy to read against Meerschaert, who landed 55 percent of his significant strikes against De Ridder in that fight. It will be extremely important that De Ridder shows better striking offense and defense against someone with the speed and power of Kevin Holland. On a positive note for De Ridder, Holland is not the best at defending takedowns. If the former ONE champ can find openings for takedowns, he could get Holland to the mat. However, Holland is an aggressive fighter off his back, looking to land strikes and search for submissions.
De Ridder got the win over Meerschaert, but it’s hard to say he looked impressive in his UFC debut. This fight, against a much more aggressive opponent, could tell us about the upside of De Ridder as a UFC contender.
Best Bets: UFC 311 – Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
While Holland is a well-rounded fighter, he is not on equal footing with De Ridder when it comes to ground skills. With that, look for Holland, who has more experience against top-level competition than De Ridder, to make this a striker vs. grappler matchup.
De Ridder did not show a sense of urgency against Meerschaert, and that’s a worry against someone like Holland. With so much unknown about De Ridder, the betting pick is for Kevin Holland to beat Reinier de Ridder by knockout at UFC 311.
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