"ONE is definitely making sure it happens" - Reinier de Ridder loves ONE Championship's push of submission grappling

Reinier de Ridder is all kinds of amped up for ONE Championship’s continued push of the grappling arts on the world stage.

A natural grappler, de Ridder is considered one of the best submission artists in mixed martial arts. The ONE light heavyweight and middleweight world champion has 10 submission wins in his career, four of which were inside the circle.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post’s Tom Taylor, de Ridder applauded how ONE Championship have given submission grapplers an avenue to showcase their art on the greater international stage.

The double champ pointed out how Mikey Musumeci, a five-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, received a $50,000 performance bonus in just his first fight in the promotion.

Reinier de Ridder said:

“It’s very cool man. For a guy like Mikey to make 50 grand in a night plus his normal show money, that’s awesome man. It’s awesome to see. It’s not easy to make money grappling and ONE is definitely making sure it happens now which is amazing to see."

Musumeci received his performance bonus when he submitted grappling legend Masakazu Imanari in their match at ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic last weekend.

Reinier de Ridder himself has featured as a part of ONE Championship’s recent submission showcase. ‘The Dutch Knight’ featured in his own submission grappling match against Andre Galvao at ONE X last March.

Catch the full interview below:

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Reinier de Ridder rolls with legendary grappler ‘Buchecha’

Despite his status as one of the most feared grapplers in the promotion, de Ridder said he’s always looking for ways to improve his craft.

The 31-year-old recently went on a gym tour across Florida and Texas. It was in one of those visits that he got to roll with 17-time BJJ world champion Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida.

'The Dutch Knight' and ‘Buchecha’ trained with each other at American Top Team and the champ-champ had nothing but praise for the BJJ legend.

“Of course, I always respect ‘Buchecha' a lot. He’s one of the best to ever do it and he’s making a great transition into MMA. He’s doing very well at the moment. It’s a shame that his fight against ‘Reug Reug’ hasn’t happened yet, but he has a bright future. It’s an honor for me to train with him and I hope to do it again sometime soon.”

Almeida currently holds a 2-0 MMA record with both of his wins ending via submission in the first round. He was supposed to have this third MMA fight at ONE 156 but his opponent Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane had to pull out due to injury.