ONE 159 Preview: Reinier De Ridder vs. Vitaly Bigdash
Headlining ONE 159, Reinier De Ridder looks to put his middleweight belt on the line against the Russian wrestler Vitaly Bigdash. The fight features two very different types of grapplers and will undoubtedly be fireworks. De Ridder is a grappler and submission artist and Bigdash is a top-heavy wrestler. Both use plenty of ground and pound so this one will absolutely be fireworks.
ONE 159: Reinier De Ridder has everything to lose
Going into ONE 159, Reinier De Ridder perhaps has the most to lose as his thing is being one of the best middleweights not in the UFC. In his last fight against Kiamrian Abbasov, De Ridder put on an absolute clinic dominating his opponent from start to the third-round finish. Against Bigdash, he will have to contend with someone who likes to be on the ground and can avoid the takedown if he wants to keep the fight on the feet. But don’t count De Ridder out on the feet though.
Against Abbasov and Aung La N Sang we saw a relentless forward pressure, even on the feet, from Reinier De Ridder and I expect the same from him in the fight at ONE 159. De Ridder thrives by pushing forward and making his opponents uncomfortable standing until they cave against the fence or in the open. It’s then that you can expect De Ridder get the fight to the ground and start to work.
Reinier De Ridder on the ground is hellacious. It brings a non-stop torrent of ground and pound, transitions, sweeps, and submission attempts. De Ridder is masterful on the ground and his fight against Abbasov was the best example of that. Off the bat in that fight, we saw De Ridder throw a body lock and get into side control off the takedown immediately. It was downhill there for Abbasov. De Ridder landed a barrage of strikes and made life miserable for Abbasov by making his breathing hard.
We got to see De Ridder throw a knee to the head of a downed Abbasov inside control which was brutal. Abbasov managed to get up at some point, but De Ridder didn’t let up and gave De Ridder no room to breathe. De Ridder got Abbasov was caught in an arm triangle at the end of round two and was saved by the bell. At the end of two, Abbasov was already defeated, and it was very apparent by his body language. Less than a minute into round 3, Abbasov was caught in the arm triangle again and tapped out.
Against Bigdash, I expect more of the same pressure from Reinier De Ridder. He pushes forward nonstop and hunts the finish. This makes him very exciting. De Ridder is good on the feet, but not great perhaps. He trains with Gegard Mousasi and Roberto Soldic as well, so his striking has made great strides in recent times. What De Ridder does well is use his striking to get to the clinch where he can get the fight where he wants: to the ground. Look for him to come forward this fight as well but he will likely get taken down. But I also expect De Ridder to be able to transition and sweep himself into a good position to get where he wants again.
Bigdash Looking To Return To The Throne
Vitaly Bigdash had a quick ascendancy to the top of the middleweight division. In 2015, he joined ONE and fought Igor Svirid for his title. There he knocked him out to become champion. It wasn’t until 2017 that he defended again, this time against Aung La N Sang, which he won. Eventually, they fought again and La N Sang won. The two fights were very close and Bigdash’s inactivity really hurt him.
Since the two losses, Bigdash has won three straight, including a tie breaker in the trilogy match against La N Sang in February of 2022. Now, he goes on to fight the active De Ridder having fought three times since December of 2021. Outside of ONE, Bigdash also has a win over former PFL champ Magomed Magomedkerimov who is a talented wrestler in his own right.
While Bigdash has trained at Tiger Muay Thai ahead of this fight, I don’t think his striking will be the key to winning this fight. Bigdash could catch De Ridder, sure, but it’s more likely that Reinier De Ridder will duck under and use the below average striking of Bigdash to get the body lock and get the win at ONE 159. Instead I’d like to see Bigdash focus on control and keep top position on De Ridder, not giving him room to breathe as he’s on top. One mistake and De Ridder will sweep and get and keep dominant position. For Bigdash, it will be smart to play it safe and make it a boring fight at ONE 159.
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In addition to covering the ONE Championship for My MMA News, Blaine Henry, the author, also analyzes fights from all combat sports across the globe.
Blaine Henry can be found on Twitter, on his podcast, and Discord.
