ONE Championshipās reigning dual-world champion Reinier de Ridder successfully defended his middleweight world title in the main event of ONE 159. He put away Russian juggernaut Vitaly Bigdash in spectacular fashion, submitting the former world champion with an inverted triangle choke in the very first round.
It was another highlight reel finish for the undefeated grappler. Moving to 16-0 in his professional MMA career, āThe Dutch Knightā made it clear following his successful defense that he has his sights set on adding a third world title to his collection.
De Ridder has been more than vocal about his desire to fight for the heavyweight world title pending a unification bout between reigning heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar and the promotionās interim heavyweight champion, Anatoly Malykhin.
After his win at ONE 159, āThe Dutch Knightā discussed his two possible heavyweight opponents.
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Reinier de Ridder said:
āMalykhin has strong power punches but he's pretty short -- short punches, throws a lot of hooks, a lot of short stuff. He'd be pretty good to take down, to be honest. Bhullar throws good punches but he doesn't really have a lot of power, to be honest. And he won't be the first wrestler I'll face.ā
If it werenāt blatantly obvious that Reinier de Ridder is more than confident in his ability to defeat both Bhullar and Malykhin, āThe Dutch Knightā gave a very matter-of-fact statement to hammer home his point.
āI take wrestlers down. I choke out black belts, out strike strikers. I don't give any f***s.ā
Reinier de Ridderās next task is to make mixed martial arts history
With a strong foothold in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, Reinier de Ridder is setting his sights on heavyweight gold next. With an undefeated record of 16-0, 11 victories by way of submission, and two world titles around his waist, āThe Dutch Knightā has earned the right to call his next shot and a showdown with either Arjan Bhullar or Anatoly Malykhin appears to be next for the Breda, Netherlands native.
āThe goal is to do something nobody else can. I did that by becoming a champ. I did that by becoming a double-champ. And now I want to keep going, beating everybody in the world. Because thatās special.ā
De Ridder is a special breed of athlete who has already etched his name in the history books by becoming a two-division world champion. With that said, āThe Dutch Knightā could launch himself into the stratosphere and beyond by becoming the first fighter to hold three world titles in three different divisions simultaneously. All with the same promotion. Itās unheard of and it sounds absolutely insane, but after his destruction of Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159, you canāt deny that if anyone can do it, De Ridder can.
Watch some of de Ridder's highlights in the video below: