“Looking at it a little bit differently” - Reinier de Ridder hints at being more cautious against Anatoly Malykhin in rematch

After receiving his taste of professional defeat at the hands of Anatoly Malykhin in December 2022 at ONE on Prime Video 5, ONE middleweight MMA world champion Reinier de Ridder felt that he needed a few changes to his approach.

In his most recent appearance on Sportskeeda MMA’s YouTube channel ahead of his highly anticipated rematch with Malykhin in the main event of ONE 166 on March 1, de Ridder spoke about several adjustments, particularly to his demeanor.

‘The Dutch Knight’ explained:

“But now, yeah, it’s a new year, and well, I’m looking at it a little bit differently this time. Like if you do something 16 times and. Not to be too cocky, but it goes pretty easily, it happens all pretty naturally.”

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Following that loss to ‘Sladkiy,’ de Ridder also received another setback in May 2023 when Tye Ruotolo outpointed him during their submission grappling match at ONE Fight Night 10.

The Combat Brothers representative wants to redeem himself with his second meeting with Malykhin to avenge his previous loss and get back in the winner’s circle inside the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.

Reinier de Ridder doesn’t want to give any bold predictions in the rematch with Malykhin

One of the lessons that Reinier de Ridder learned from that devastating first-round knockout defeat from Malykhin was to keep himself away from giving out bold predictions and keep his mouth shut for any trash talk.

The former two-division MMA world champion also realized that he is not as bulletproof as he thought previously when he was an undefeated fighter who wreaked havoc in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.

ONE 166: Qatar is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America on March 1.

About the author

Anatoly is an MMA writer with six years of experience. He covers ONE Championship at Sportskeeda, where he has contributed over 1000 pieces. He previously served as the lead MMA writer for BetMGM’s blog.

Anatoly holds a bachelor's degree in communication, which he feels has had a significant impact on his career.

Jon Jones’ submission win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 in 2011 got him hooked to MMA. His favorite fighters include Eduard Folayang, Demetrious Johnson, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Anatoly provides Sportskeeda with exclusive pieces and has previously interviewed the former ONE flyweight MMA world champion, Adriano Moraes. While writing his pieces, he follows an extensive research process, referring only to credible sources like the UFC’s official website, Sherdog, and ESPN. He also likes to provide insights to his readers by keeping in mind important pillars of communication like media literacy and audience dynamics.

Anatoly advocates for a healthy and fit lifestyle by including boxing in his routine. He also loves to travel.

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Edited by C. Nayak