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Former two-division and reigning ONE middleweight MMA world champion Reinier de Ridder is set to defend his belt against Anatoly Malykhin at ONE 166: Qatar. On March 1st, the world's largest martial arts organization will make its way back to the Middle East with 'The Dutch Knight' rematching the man who took one of his belts, Anatoly 'Sladkiy' Malykhin.
Reinier de Ridder is one of the most successful grappling specialists to ever win world titles in MMA, rising to hold both the ONE middleweight and light-heavyweight MMA belts at one point.
Before facing Anatoly Malykhin, who is the current ONE light-heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world champion, de Ridder was undefeated and even dipped his toes in other combat sports.
At ONE X in 2022, the promotion's 10th-anniversary show, 'The Dutch Knight' shocked both the MMA and grappling world by signing to face Jiujitsu legend Andre Galvao in a straight submission grappling match.
Despite lacking the submission grappling acumen as Galvao, Reinier de Ridder made a good showing of himself by going the distance against the ADCC legend. The 12-minute match ended in a draw as no man was able to score a submission.
Watch the full match here:
Reinier de Ridder excited to "submit guys" in ONE's first-ever live show in Qatar
Main eventing ONE's inaugural live event in Qatar, de Ridder is excited to showcase his grappling expertise. This bout will be his shot at redemption as well as a chance to connect with his fans in the grappling-rich nation.
'The Dutch Knight' told ONE:
“Yeah, I'm a grappler. I'm going to submit guys. So it makes sense that I'm going to this big show in the Middle East. Yeah, I don't know. But it's something that's very important for the region. Like in Abu Dhabi, all the kids train jiu-jitsu. They have jiu-jitsu in schools. Yeah, it's another nice thing, but the only focus is choking one guy out.”
Watch Reinier de Ridder do the square dance again with Anatoly Malylhin at ONE 166: Qatar, which will live on March 1 free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
