Photo via onefc.com
Reinier de Ridder on Kiamrian Abbasov title defense at ONE: Full Circle
Reinier de Ridder defends his ONE middleweight world title against Kiamrian Abbasov at ONE: Full Circle. This transpires at Singapore Indoor Stadium on February 25th.
I spoke with RDR ahead of this title defense against the reigning ONE welterweight world champion. Excerpts from our recent conversation are below.
Finally getting a fight locked in after a lengthy run of callouts on social media
“I was getting frustrated with no fights. So I thought I’m going to try something to get things in gear. Seems to have worked now finally, next week I’m back.”
“Very happy. Last fight, he was scheduled already. This was a fight I’ve been preparing for, for a long time already. He is an interesting opponent, quick with his hands, and it’s cool he’s already champ. So it’s a champ versus champ fight. I’m happy he’s the guy.”
It not being that long ago that de Ridder was pursuing dual division champ status and his insights into how Abbasov might be feeling as he pursues that same goal now
“Yeah, definitely. It’s a big step up for him. He is pretty short. So moving up in weight is admirable. Yeah, I think he’s motivated.”
Reinier de Ridder
ONE: Full Circle seeming like a middleweight showcase card with Aung La N Sang and Vitaly Bigdash having their trilogy
“Very cool to have all these people on the card as well. I’m bummed out I don’t get to watch all of it live. But I’ll definitely be watching back the next day. There’s a lot of interesting fights…Aung versus Bigdash is interesting. They’ve already had two wars and I’m interested to see who wins the trilogy.”
Leandro Ataides being a past opponent, their previous foray as training partners, and where things are at now
“No, I didn’t see him this camp.”
“I think that’s why he doesn’t visit the gym either. He knows we might fight in the future. So I think it’s better for him to train at another gym for now. Maybe after the next fight.”
RDR’s thoughts on the newly instantiated performance bonuses ONE Championship established
“I always go for the finish but it’s cool that they finally considered this. There has been a lot of good finishes already since they started with the performance bonuses. So I’m excited to take one home or maybe two like (Anatoly) Malykhin.”
The work had at Combat Brothers BJJ and MMA
“Yeah, definitely. I’m here full time. It’s my own place. Everything’s here. I’m here every day. Two times a week, I drive up to Leiden (Netherlands). Train with Gegard (Mousasi) and the guys over there. That’s pretty much what I do. That’s pretty much how I got ready.”
ONE: Full Circle
Mousasi and de Ridder defending their middleweight world titles on the same day
“Yeah, man. It’s great. Worked out like that a few times before now. It’s just awesome to be training together anyways. Definitely, this way we’re both in camp, both in full strength, and both in full operation. Just such a good guy to have in my corner. Such a good guy to train with. Such a wealth of knowledge. Nobody is more experienced. There’s nobody better than him. Very happy and very grateful that I get to train with him.”
A possible submission grappling Super Fight under the ONE Championship banner being in the works for de Ridder
“Definitely. There are some talks now. I don’t think I can say much more than that. But we’ve got something very cool planned for after this fight.”
The stylistic proclivities that Reinier de Ridder sees in Kiamrian Abbasov
“So he’s got pretty fast hands. Mostly all of his attacks come from his right side. He does throw some jabs and some hooks with his left hand. But it’s not really there to hurt. It’s more there to measure the distance. Kicks a bit with his right side. The knee is interesting. He got his last opponent (James Nakashima) with. Light on his feet, moves a lot, bounces a lot.”
“Does make some mistakes in his footwork. Likes to pressure forward. Likes to move around. Gets taken down pretty regularly, almost every fight he ends up on the bottom. His jiu-jitsu is alright. But he’s more of a control guy on the floor. There he is very dangerous.”
ONE Championship
The ONE: Full Circle fight prediction for RDR
“This fight will definitely not go five. I’m finishing this early.”
“I’m choking him out.”
The saying “Stay Humble You Fucks” and how that could potentially become a walkout T/ general catchphrase for de Ridder
“It’s a crazy world right now. Just throwing on the news. It’s all a bit much sometimes, for me. I’m a humble guy so sometimes I need to tell people to respect.”
“That’s not a bad idea but that’s not going to happen. I’ve got some cool stuff for this one planned. But yeah, we’ll think about that, yeah.”
The consistency of the Roy Jones Jr. entrance music
“Absolutely. Yes, that’s the one. The only one.”
Parting thoughts for Reinier de Ridder
“I’m ready, I’m sharp. I’m going to showcase every part of my skill. I’ll see you all on the 25th.”
