Reinier “The Dutch Knight” de Ridder has ripped through ONE Championship’s middleweight and light heavyweight divisions since making his promotional debut in 2019.

The 31-year-old phenom currently holds both divisional straps, and he is hell-bent on continuing his reign as the middleweight king when he faces Vitaly Bigdash in the main event of ONE 159 on July 22. 

De Ridder enters this contest with a perfect 15-0 slate, a stellar 87 percent finishing rate, and a track record of dominating almost every opponent that has stood across from him inside the ONE circle. 

Combat sports fans may already be familiar with his journey on the global stage, but they most likely do not know the humble beginnings the MMA sensation comes from or how he got started in martial arts.

The son of a taxi driver and a civil servant, de Ridder had a typical childhood in his native country of the Netherlands.

“I grew up in a small place just outside Tilburg and, like a lot of Dutch cities, there were a lot of good possibilities,” he recalled. “I’m a Dutch-made man.”

He enjoyed school as a youngster but was never passionate about anything in particular. Instead, the Combat Brothers representative channeled his energy into sports – primarily martial arts.

De Ridder spent his free time at a local judo academy, learning the fundamentals of the sport and meeting like-minded youngsters on the mats. It was there that he figured out where his skills lay.

“I did judo from a young age, and I was always playing football on the fields outside,” he said.

“I found out that my true talent is in my motor-learning skills. If someone shows me a move, I can copy it, internalize it, and use it very quickly.”

Judo certainly opened the doors to the world of martial arts for “The Dutch Knight,” but it wasn’t until he discovered Brazilian jiu-jitsu that his journey truly began.

“It was just a good sport to do. It was a hobby, a good way to train, and something I always really enjoyed,” he noted.

“It never got really far. I won some regional titles in judo, but nothing major. Everything just started to click with Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts later in life.”

De Ridder discovered “the gentle art” when he relocated to Breda to further his studies. He originally wanted to carry on expanding his judo arsenal, but when he couldn’t find a gym, he made the decision to switch.

“I moved to Breda for university, and I was looking for another judo club to train at. I couldn’t really find one, but I heard about a sport called BJJ, and I thought I’d give it a try,” he said.

“I was rolling with the smaller guys, and everybody was tapping me. I definitely went home with a smaller ego, but with a new goal in life.”

The desire to up his efficiency and knowledge on the ground pushed him to develop and improve, but it wasn’t until he turned professional in 2013 that he realized there was a side to him that he hadn’t encountered yet.

“I was terribly nervous before the first fight, but when the ref said go, something switched. I turned it on. I forgot about all the striking, and I just ran towards the guy, grabbed him, and choked him out,” he recalled.

“It was the biggest rush I’ve ever felt. To be in there and to let your skills go was crazy.”

His confidence has grown tremendously since then, and he has continued to rack up victories against opponents of all different backgrounds.

De Ridder’s next opponent, Bigdash, may serve as the toughest test he has faced inside the ONE circle. But if he succeeds on July 22, he could cement his reputation as the most dominant middleweight world champion the promotion has ever seen.