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All MMA fans should be taking notice of ONE Championship's double champ Reinier 'The Dutch Knight' de Ridder.
Considered to be one of the best fighters outside the UFC, the undefeated jiu-jitsu ace has barreled through the ranks of ONE Championship. In just two years and five fights in the promotion, de Ridder has already captured both the middleweight and light heavyweight titles. That's unheard of in the sport.
Such a meteoric rise to double-champ status is unprecedented in the sport. Not even Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier were able to achieve such a distinction in the same period of time. Now that he has two belts firmly resting on each shoulder, de Ridder is expressing interest in becoming MMA's first-ever triple-division champ.
If he achieves that, he'll be on a level that's his and his alone.
For now, however, de Ridder has to defend one of his thrones first. On Friday, February 25th, 'The Dutch Knight' will defend his middleweight belt against fellow champion, ONE welterweight king Kiamrian 'Brazen' Abbasov. The main event of ONE: Full Circle will have lots of eyes looking at the two champions competing.
If you want to know what the hype is all about with ONE's only double champ, you've come to the right place. Today, we look at the 5 fights de Ridder had in ONE Championship en route to becoming the company's only current champ-champ.
#5. A trial by fire against Leandro Ataides - ONE Championship: Warrior's Code
Reinier de Ridder's fight with former title challenger Leandro 'Leo' Ataides was his biggest test to date at that point. Against Ataides, de Ridder had a grueling match against a dangerous powerhouse.
Right off the bat, you can tell that de Ridder was hesitant to engage with Ataides' punching power. The Dutch grappler was having quite a difficult time getting past Ataides' punches to score a takedown.
Despite not having early success with his grappling, de Ridder never relented and had Ataides defending most of his grappling entries. Due to this, the Brazilian powerhouse was quite gassed in round 2. Breathing through his mouth and mostly telegraphing his strikes, Ataides was a perfect target for the much fresher de Ridder.
'The Dutch Knight' continued his gritty style and kept Ataides working in the clinch 'til the final horn. Once the scorecards had been read, de Ridder had his hand raised and was primed for a showdown against then-champion Aung La N Sang.
Watch the full fight here:
#4. Dispatching Fan Rong in his ONE debut - ONE Championship: Hero's Ascent
Reinier de Ridder's short work of Fan Rong was the perfect way to make a statement in his ONE debut. Fan was on a 12-fight winning streak and it was quite a hard task to overcome, especially for a first fight in the promotion. Nevertheless, de Ridder passed his first test with flying colors.
Right away, de Ridder wasted no time putting Fan on his back, catching him with a nifty single-leg takedown in the first minute. From there, de Ridder methodically went from half guard to side control with ease.
'The Dutch Knight' ultimately caught Fan with a Brabo choke as the Chinese warrior tried for a reversal. Such killer instinct has been de Ridder's calling card when it comes to the ground and he has carried it throughout his run in ONE Championship.
Watch the full fight here:
#3. Out-grappling the grappling specialist, Gilberto Galvao - ONE Championship: Legendary Quest
Riding huge momentum after his first-round submission of Fan Rong, de Ridder was given another tough task against grappling specialist Gilberto 'Giba' Galvao. Galvao had 15 submission wins under his belt and looked like several massive boulders stacked together then wrapped in skin. The muscle-bound behemoth had an imposing aura about him but this never deterred de Ridder from imposing his own will.
The height difference was clearly evident from the start as the 5'10" Galvao couldn't quite reach the 6'4" de Ridder with his powerful hooks. When the two engaged in grappling, all Galvao could do was defend de Ridder's aggressive grappling attacks.
By round 2, Galvao's muscles were starting to overload and he couldn't handle the Dutchman's relentless pressure. Galvao ultimately made the mistake of going on his knees while de Ridder had him trapped in a front face-lock. The undefeated ONE Championship middleweight then blasted the Brazilian with knees on the ground, ending the fight via KO.
Watch the full fight here:
#2. Dethroning the mighty Aung La N Sang - ONE Championship: Inside the Matrix
At this point, fans were already keeping an eye on de Ridder after three dominant wins inside the Circle. In October 2020, however, de Ridder finally entered the upper echelon of MMA. He faced arguably the face of ONE Championship at the time, then-double champ Aung La N Sang.
'The Burmese Python' is a cultural icon and was riding an 11-1 record in the promotion at the time. Aung La was holding both ONE's middleweight and light heavyweight titles at the time and had taken on all comers.
The way de Ridder captured the title and who he did it to make this win as epic as they come. No one ever predicted that the Dutch superstar would force Aung La to tap inside the first round.
In one of the most one-sided wins over a dominant champion, de Ridder constricted 'The Burmese Python' to submission. Despite being the heavy underdog, de Ridder showed that the then-champion had no business being in the cage with him.
Watch the full fight here:
#1. Becoming the double champ on less than a week's notice - ONE Championship on TNT 4
As if his dominant middleweight title win wasn't enough, de Ridder topped his previous performance by capturing Aung La's second belt. However, 'The Dutch Knight' did something more incredible than winning a second belt: doing it on less than a week's notice.
After the light heavyweight champion's original challenger, Vitaly Bigdash, tested positive for COVID-19, de Ridder came in as a last-minute replacement. With pundits and fight fans still seeing his initial victory as a fluke, de Ridder eradicated all doubt with a dominant win across 5 rounds.
The steady and methodical dismantling of Aung La provided no reason for the judges to see it differently. With this win, de Ridder properly solidified his place as one of the top champions of the sport today.
Watch the full fight here:
