"I have enough belts already" - Reinier de Ridder doesn’t mind having the light heavyweight world title on the line vs. Anatoly Malykhin

'The Dutch Knight' Reinier de Ridder feels that he has enough ONE gold that putting a world title on the line is not an issue.

At ONE on Prime Video 5 on December 2, he will put his light heavyweight throne up for grabs when he faces ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin.

The undefeated two-division world champion discussed being adorned in ONE gold when he spoke with SCMP MMA:

“I’m all right with that. After this, I’ll be the welterweight champ, the middleweight champ, the light heavyweight champ, the heavyweight champ. I’m good, man ... It’s the same. It’s the same guy, it’s the same fight. I have enough belts already, let’s be honest. So, it’s all ok.”

The 32-year-old Dutch fighter is a dangerous jiu-jitsu ace. At the highest levels of competition in ONE Championship, he has earned several wins by way of submission over notable fighters like Vitaly Bigdash, Kiamrian Abbasov, and Aung La N Sang, among others. He even grappled to a draw against all-time jiu-jitsu great Andre Galvao.

See the full interview with Reinier de Ridder below:

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Anatoly Malykhin believes power will overcome Reinier de Ridder's jiu-jitsu

Russian knockout machine 'Sladkiy' Anatoly Malykhin is confident that his power will overcome the impressive jiu-jitsu skills of 'The Dutch Knight' when they meet at ONE on Prime Video 5 on December 2.

With a 70% knockout win rate, Malykhin has reason to be sure of his hands. In an interview with ONE Championship, the interim heavyweight world champion explained:

“If I hit him the way he hit Vitaly [Bigdash], he’s unlikely to remember anything about his jiu-jitsu skills. Maybe later after the knockout when his team tries to bring him back to life, he might remember that he is a black belt in jiu-jitsu. But overall, he is not a bad fighter. He has a record of 16-0, which is impressive. He is a jiu-jitsu fighter, but this is MMA – let’s see how he adjusts.”

Malykhin has tremendous respect for the two-division world champion, but believes that he will be able to overpower Reinier de Ridder come fight night:

“There has never been any disrespect from me when it comes to de Ridder, but he doesn’t surprise me with anything. I know his strengths – endurance and a strong ground game, but he just doesn’t understand my level of fighting, and that’s his weak point. He thinks he can take me down, but he won’t succeed."