Newly signed UFC middleweight Reinier de Ridder says a victory is not enough when he debuts inside the Octagon this weekend at the Apex.

Among the most notable storylines set to play out at Saturday's UFC Fight Night is the arrival of de Ridder, a former two-division titleholder under the ONE Championship banner over in Asia.

While he'll no doubt hope to walk through an arena crowd soon enough, his first taste of Octagon action will come in the serene surroundings of the Apex on Nov. 9, where veteran Gerald Meerschaert is set to await him.

Reinier de Ridder: 'A Win is NOT Enough' in Debut vs. Gerald Meerschaert | UFC Vegas 100

During his appearance at

on Wednesday, de Ridder looked ahead to his first foray into the cage in his new promotion and assessed what he must do to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with on the sport's biggest stage.

Finally, after all these years of talking about the top guys, to finally be close to getting them is very cool," de Ridder said. "The most important this is Gerald first. It’s a very cool matchup. ... A win is not enough – the top dogs finish Gerald and I want to prove I’m one of them. ... I’ve always watched his fights and that’s a great thing for this fight as well. There’s so much tape to study. He has so much fights. He has a really difficult style.

The ways he finishes fights, there’s a few things he’s very dangerous at, there’s a few things he does that I think I can really capitalize as well. But it’s a great matchup," de Ridder continued. "I’m very happy that they’ve given me him for my first fight because he’s a veteran, he’s a real name, and I think if I can put a stamp on this one, I have some leverage to start calling out some bigger names.

Should he do so, the Dutchman has the likes of Bo Nickal in his sights as he hopes to add UFC gold to his already illustrious trophy cabinet in mixed martial arts.