"Vitaly, you’re welcome” - Reinier de Ridder takes credit for Bigdash’s win over Aung La N Sang

Vitaly Bigdash concluded his epic trilogy with Aung La N Sang at ONE: Full Circle. Reinier de Ridder believes he played a big part in the Russian fighter’s victory.

In an interview with ONE Championship, ‘The Dutch Knight’ was asked if the win propelled him to be the next challenger for the ONE middleweight world title. Reinier de Ridder said:

“First of all, Vitaly, you're welcome, I'll show you the blueprint and you run with it. So well done. Second, yeah, he is, I think he should be next in line.”

Bigdash and Aung La split their first two meetings in 2017 that both went to the scorecards. However, due to factors beyond their control, they weren't able to settle the score until last month.

Incidentally, de Ridder defeated ‘The Burmese Python’ twice in that span. The two-division world champion believes it may have helped Bigdash come up with a winning game plan for their deciding bout.

While de Ridder thinks Bigdash is a worthy challenger, he isn’t concerned about their potential matchup:

“I see myself dominating him from start to finish. I'll pick him apart, from the outside. He doesn't have a chance of striking with me, he's too short. I push him against the fence, dominating in the grappling and then I'll find his neck anytime.”

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Reinier de Ridder to test his grappling against one of the best at ONE X

Before Reinier de Ridder takes on Vitaly Bigdash though, he wants a quick turnaround to stay active. He will test his grappling skills against one of the best in the world at ONE X when he takes on Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Andre Galvao.

After fulfilling what he set out to do against ONE welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov in his last outing, de Ridder boldly challenged the multiple-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion to a grappling match.

Galvao graciously accepted the challenge and will make his ONE Championship promotional debut at the 10-year anniversary extravaganza on March 26.

Reinier de Ridder prides himself as one of the best grapplers in the world today, with 10 of his 15 wins in MMA coming by submission. He’ll step out of his comfort zone when he takes on Galvao in a pure submission grappling match but will complete an incredible feat if he comes out victorious.