Reinier de Ridder says KO defeat to Anatoly Malykhin has already made him "a better fighter"

Reinier de Ridder believes suffering his first career loss has already made him a better fighter.

‘The Dutch Knight’ walked into ONE on Prime Video 5 with two ONE world championships and an undefeated record. Unfortunately, he walked out defeated and without the ONE light heavyweight championship, thanks to a barrage of strikes from ONE Championship’s Fighter of the Year, Anatoly Malykhin.

Unable to get the Russian juggernaut on the mat, de Ridder struggled to hold his own against ‘Sladkiy’ and found himself on the wrong side of a brutal knockout in the first round of their main event clash. Looking back at his first defeat in an interview with the South China Morning Post, ‘The Dutch Knight’ believes the defeat taught him a valuable lesson that will make him a better fighter going forward.

“It's making me a better fighter already. I’ve really taken a lot of steps and it’s weird to say but maybe before the fight I didn’t do as much as I could have, which is not typical for me.”

It wouldn’t be the first time that a dominant world champion has rested on their laurels a bit, only to pay for it once they step into the cage. Perhaps the setback will reinvigorate ‘The Dutch Knight’ and lead to an even better Reinier de Ridder when he makes his return to the circle at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5 at the 1stBank Center in Colorado.

Reinier de Ridder will take on Tye Ruotolo in a submission grappling super fight at ONE Championship’s first on-site card in the United States. ONE Fight Night 10 will be available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.

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Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida offered his expertise on Reinier de Ridder’s struggles to take Anatoly Malykhin down

Marcus Almeida knows a thing or two about taking down his opponents. The 17-time BJJ world champion has made a career out of submitting men both on the mat and in the circle. Still undefeated in his mixed martial arts career, ‘Buchecha’ shared his thoughts on Reinier de Ridder’s struggle to get Anatoly Malykhin to the mat in their ONE on Prime Video 5 main event.

"We have different styles,” Almedia said. “RDR uses a lot of judo styles, so that’s not my style. Against wrestlers with heavy hips, it’s really hard to get it. I think he tried to change the strategy for sure but it’s not the best takedown for RDR."

"We could see that he was struggling a little bit because he doesn’t have really explosive shots. He uses a lot of body locks and judo throws, but Anatoly is shorter than him and heavier."

Almeida continued his assessment:

"So it was a little bit harder for him to get his body locks. He didn’t have enough time to adjust his game. Maybe he could have come up with a better strategy in the second round, but he didn’t get time to go to the second round."