“A heavy clash in the first few minutes” - Reinier de Ridder envisions a first-round finish of Anatoly Malykhin

Reinier de Ridder has produced one of the best runs ever seen in ONE Championship. At ONE on Prime Video 5, he faces his biggest challenge of the year when he faces interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin, with the Dutchman’s light heavyweight world title on the line.

‘The Dutch Knight’ has already defended his middleweight world title twice this year with two submission victories over Kiamrian Abbasov and Vitaly Bigdash.

On December 2, both men put their undefeated records on the line, with the challenge for Reinier de Ridder being to face a bigger and more powerful opponent who has finished all of his opponents inside the circle.

The defending champion is incredibly confident that his skill will outshine his opponents and gave his prediction for the fight in an interview with The MMA Superfan:

“Yeah, so I see myself getting up close early. So pressing the pace, pushing him back, and he's going to try and come in as well. So it's going to be a heavy clash in the first few minutes. Because he's going to try to impose his will, put the pressure on me. And I'm going to take over, I'm going to hit him with some good shots. Body head and legs and then I'll get into the clinch, take him into my game, take him into my world. I think I'll be able to finish him at the end of the first.”

Watch the full interview below:

ONE on Prime Video 5 is live and free for North American viewers with a Prime subscription.

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“Just call out some names and we'll see who bites” - Reinier de Ridder willing to fight and beat anyone in the world

Reigning two-weight ONE world champion Reinier de Ridder has shown that he is willing to take on any challenges that he deems worthy.

So far, ‘The Dutch Knight’ has proven how confident he is that he can beat any man that stands across from him inside the circle. At ONE on Prime Video 5, he will face a new kind of threat in facing interim heavyweight champion Anatoly Malykhin.

With de Ridder’s light heavyweight world title and both men’s undefeated records on the line, there are big stakes in this fight. Nevertheless, the defending champion just sees it as another opportunity to show his dominance.

In the same interview, ‘The Dutch Knight’ shared his open door policy when it comes to any fighter who wants to test their skills against the undefeated Dutchman:

“Yeah, back in the day I used to think I can beat this guy, I can beat that guy. But nowadays, to be honest, I think I can beat anybody in the world. So I just call out some names and we'll see who bites.”

Reinier De Ridder is on a run of facing and defeating former or current world champions. In just seven fights under the ONE Championship banner, he has already defeated the likes of Kiamrian Abbasov, Vitaly Bigdash and Aung La N Sang twice.