Watch: Reinier de Ridder demos standing guillotine to D’arce choke submission

Two-division ONE world champion Reinier de Ridder will return to the Circle to take on former titleholder Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159 on July 22nd. ‘The Dutch Knight’ will seek to defend his ONE Middleweight World Championship against Bigdash, who hopes to carry gold around his waist once again.

Both fighters have been hard at work preparing for what is sure to be a grappler’s delight. 'The Dutch Knight' showed off some of his ground game in a recent clip shared on the ONE Championship Instagram. In the video, which you can see below, de Ridder can be seen slyly transitioning from a guillotine choke to a D’arce choke:

“Reinier de Ridder flips the script. The double-champ defends his middleweight throne against former divisional king Vitaly Bigdash on July 22 at ONE 159!”

Undefeated in his mixed martial arts career, ‘The Dutch Knight’ etched his name into the ONE Championship history books by defeating Aung La N Sang at ONE: Inside the Matrix in October 2020 to capture the ONE middleweight world championship.

Six months later, they would meet once again for the promotion’s light heavyweight world championship. The Dutchman once again scored the victory to become a dual-champion.

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Aung La N Sang is excited to see Reinier de Ridder vs. Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159

Having squared off with both Reinier de Ridder and Vitaly Bigdash in the Circle, Aung La N Sang is very familiar with the skills that each fighter brings. Ahead of their epic showdown at ONE 159, ‘The Burmese Python’ spoke to ONE Championship regarding the world title fight and what he expects when the challenger meets the champion.

“It’s going to be a good fight. They’re both very good competitors, so I’m excited for it, and I’m very familiar with both of them. It’s going to be a good one. It’s an exciting matchup for me and I’m really looking forward to who’s going to win that one.”

Even at 37, Aung La N Sang has no intentions of slowing down and believes he could cross paths with ‘The Dutch Knight’ or Bigdash at some point in the future:

“I’m friendly towards them and I’m respectful towards them. I’m not best friends with either of them. And given the chance, I’ll fight them again in a heartbeat. I don’t know, but I feel like if I finish the next few middleweights that I fight, I’ll be back in the mix.”

Aung La N Sang dropped back-to-back bouts to Reinier de Ridder, losing both of his world titles in the process. In February, Bigdash and Aung La N Sang completed a trilogy bout that saw the Russian contender win via unanimous decision to secure his world title opportunity.