Black Belt Team 
Unbeaten two-division World Champion Reinier De Ridder will battle yet another ONE Championship champion in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 5 on Friday, December 2. “The Dutch Knight” welcomes ONE Interim Heavyweight World Champion Anatoly Malykhin to the light heavyweight division in his first defense of the ONE Light Heavyweight World Championship.
De Ridder is coming off back-to-back submission wins over former middleweight king Vitaly Bigdash and former ONE Welterweight World Champion Kiamrian Abbasov. He does not expect a different result against the unbeaten Russian next month.
“You’ll see me dominant from the first second. So in those first few seconds, those are going to be very explosive and very, very, very important. And I think I can hit him with some good stuff because I’m more rangey. I think I can get in his face and hit him with some good jabs and with some good kicks. Clinch him, take him down, I see me controlling him on the floor, hitting him with some elbows, hitting him with some knees. And I see myself choking him out at the end of the first,” said De Ridder.
The Dutchman recognizes the power the heavyweight star will bring with him to the division, but he is not as concerned with his overall skill set. De Ridder stated he brings nothing special into the Circle with him, and that will allow him to have the technical edge no matter where the action takes place.
But after seeing Malykhin’s finishes on the global stage, De Ridder will be cautious as to not be on the receiving end of one of his hammers.
“Well, as I said, he is dangerous, so I really need to watch everything and be very sharp. But he’s not special. He has a hard right hand, pretty similar to Aung La [N Sang], he needs a little bit of space to leap in with a large, loopy right hand, which he catches people with pretty often,” said “The Dutch Knight.”
Although Malykhin is the interim heavyweight titleholder, De Ridder expects that he will have the size advantage in Manila. The 32-year-old believes his height and reach will be a major factor in this battle, especially when the two get entangled in the clinch.
“It’ll be noticeable. But it will feel like I’m the bigger guy because I’m the taller, lankier guy. I’ll be stronger in the clinch, so it doesn’t really factor into it. But there is, of course, every guy is more open to certain moves, and he’ll be open to certain takedowns more than he is open to different ones. And I’ll adjust accordingly,” said De Ridder.
The light heavyweight title tilt will main event ONE on Prime Video 5 on Friday, December 2, at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST to all U.S. and Canadian Amazon Prime subscribers.
16-0 😱 Can Anyone Stop Two-Division King Reinier De Ridder?! 👑
Undefeated ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion Reinier de Ridder has proven to be one of the most dominant fighters in MMA. “The Dutch Knig…
Mixed martial arts, Mma, One fc, One championship
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