“I can hit him when he can't hit me” - Reinier de Ridder will use range to outstrike Anatoly Malykhin

One of the easiest things Reinier de Ridder does well is using his range and height to outstrike boxers. According to the ‘The Dutch Knight, Anatoly Malykhin is therefore going to have a tough time finding the target.

Reinier de Ridder is putting his light heavyweight crown on the line for the first time against ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin on a massive double-header card at ONE on Prime Video 5.

North American audiences can watch the two behemoths settle their differences live and for free on Friday, December 2, with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.

Renowned for his other-worldly grappling skills, ‘The Dutch Knight’ has another clear advantage: his range.

Seeing as he’s going up against one of the most dangerous knockout artists on the planet, De Ridder was recently asked in an interview what tools he had in his arsenal to evade his power punches.

The 32-year-old black belt told The MMA Superfan:

"Everything. My range, I can hit him when he can't hit me. And once he comes in, he's in my world. Once I grab him, it's over."

'The Dutch Knight' has always threatened to submit opponents on the ground, and so far, he’s been doing a successful job of it.

Scoring an absurd MMA record of 16-0, the jiu-jitsu specialist is literally unstoppable and he hopes to extend his perfect record to 17 after he submits another world champion inside the ONE circle.

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Reinier de Ridder sees facing Arjan Bhullar in the future as “irrelevant”

At the ONE on Prime Video 5 press conference, Reinier de Ridder said he may have plans to fight for the heavyweight world title. But with Arjan Bhullar out of competition, the future is not so clear-cut.

The feud between Arjan Bhullar and Anatoly Malykhin has grown more animated since the year started.

Like a domino effect, the continuous delay of their unification bout has affected not only the division but also De Ridder’s plans to become a three-division world champion.

When the Dutchman was asked if he still had any plans to bid for the heavyweight belt after beating Malykhin, De Ridder simply said:

“Yeah, who knows? Who’s Bhullar anyways? He’s been out of competition for so long, he’s not really relevant, we’ll see.”

Catch Reinier de Ridder’s full response at the 21:17 mark below: