"I think Bigdash should come to middleweight" - Reinier de Ridder on which of his belts he'll defend next

Reinier de Ridder is a fighting champion and between his two belts, he believes that Vitaly Bigdash should be the next challenger up for him.

In an interview with SCMP MMA, de Ridder offered his thoughts on what he plans to do with the gold wrapped around his shoulders.

“I think Bigdash should come to middleweight. He can make weight easily. He didn’t do it last time, and I think most people know why. He should make middleweight. I’ll fight him at middleweight first. The next good option is light heavyweight against [Arjan] Bhullar, so let’s see what happens.”

Bigdash won his epic trilogy fight with Aung La N Sang in February 2022 and immediately called out De Ridder for the world title. The same event saw de Ridder defend the ONE middleweight crown against the welterweight king, Kiamrian Abbasov. After the bout, ‘The Dutch Knight’ told Bigdash to make weight first and declared that all his challengers talked a big game before they fell to him.

Meanwhile, de Ridder is also eager to challenge for a world title in a third division by going up against ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar. However, he understands that the interim world champion in Anatoly Malykhin may have a claim to that challenge. As such, he is proposing to defend his own belt just to get inside the ONE circle with Bhullar.

Reinier de Ridder is eager to get back in action

Reinier de Ridder has already competed twice in the first quarter of 2022 and has been busy training in the US with some of the best talents in martial arts.

First, he first went to Sanford MMA, where Henri Hooft oversaw his training with Aung La N Sang and Tyrone Spong, among others. He also traveled across the country to join Buchecha and Adriano Moraes at American Top Team and later visited John Danaher and his wards, Gordon Ryan and Garry Tonon, to sharpen his grappling game.

When asked about his plans for the rest of the year, Reinier de Ridder said he wants to fight at least two more MMA fights with either one or both Vitaly Bigdash and Anatoly Malykhin. He even shared a timeline of when he wants to get back in the cage.

“Life is good, it’s been nice to travel a bit. After this I’m back home. In a week, I’ll be back home, training hard and I’ll be ready for June, July, get me in there.”