Reinier de Ridder wants to keep his momentum going.

The Dutchman, a former two division titleholder at ONE Championship, made relatively light work of Penn State wrestling legend Bo Nickal in last weekend’s UFC event in Iowa, derailing the American’s hype train with a second round TKO in a fight he dominated for the most part from start to finish.

Now sporting an impressive 20-2 record, De Ridder has made clear that he wants his next challenge to come against a former UFC middleweight champion as he plots a course towards 185-pound gold.

“As I said in the cage, [Bo] is the best American wrestler, let’s do the best American striker,” De Ridder told the media, including The Mac Life, post-fight in reference to his callout of Strickland in the cage.

“I like Sean, he’s a funny dude, he’s a real character. And I think it’s an interesting matchup style wise. He’s got a very good jab, I don’t think my jab is too bad. I would like that fight… next week, Montreal baby, let’s go.”

While that last part in, obviously, impossible De Ridder has announced himself as a legitimate threat in the UFC’s middleweight fold, showing off an impressive stand-up game — particularly in the clinch — to add to his world class grappling.

As things stand, De Ridder finds himself the 13th-ranked middleweight on the UFC roster, placing himself in direct competition with similarly-ranked fighters like Paulo Costa, Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori. Strickland, by comparison, is ranked number two — suggesting, perhaps, that De Ridder might need another high profile win before tackling the division’s big boys.