Reinier De Ridder: “I Can Get Anybody In The World”
Fresh off his win at ONE 159, Reinier De Ridder is riding high and knows just how good he is. At ONE 159, he put away Vitaly Bigdash with a triangle after getting caught in a guillotine. But not to be deterred, De Ridder came through the adversity to retain his middleweight title.
Reinier De Ridder defeating Bigdash at ONE 159
As mentioned, Reinier De Ridder was caught with a sneaky guillotine from Bigdash early on. De Ridder admitted to being surprised that Bigdash came with that gameplan at ONE 159 but he reminds everyone it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
“The punch arrived, and it hit my neck. The guillotine arrived, and it was a little sloppy. But yeah, it was surprising. He was pretty strong, and he did well, but not well enough.”
While it did look tight, De Ridder believes that he wasn’t in any trouble of real consequence. In fact, it played into his hands and led to him finishing the fight and retaining his middleweight title.
“I was never in any real trouble, but he was cranking it pretty hard. That was actually very good for me because he got tired. The moment he let go, I could get in some good ground-and-pound and I hit him with some good shots. And after that, you saw what happened, right?”
Finally, De Ridder sends a warning to anyone he fights, spars, or comes into contact with. He is the best in the world. Middleweight, light heavyweight, it doesn’t matter. He can catch anyone.
“I’ve been doing [that move] for years. Everywhere I go, every gym I visit. If they don’t know what’s coming, I can get anybody in the world with this stuff.”
De Ridder has teased heavyweight next in an attempt to become a triple champion, something new and not achieved by anyone in ONE, the UFC, or Bellator. Time will tell if those wishes come to fruition.
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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.
