Reinier “The Dutch Knight” de Ridder (16-0) has enjoyed a successful run in ONE Championship, capturing both the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world titles from former two-division king Aung La N Sang.
Soon thereafter, he was called out by a slew of opponents, including heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar and interim titleholder Anatoly Malykhin (11-0).
Now, he will get part of his wish granted.
This Friday, de Ridder will defend his ONE light heavyweight world title against Malykhin in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 5. Fans in the U.S. and Canada can watch this show live and for free with an Amazon Prime membership.
“The Dutch Knight” has looked impeccable in his ONE Championship career so far. In fact, the undefeated two-division champ has passed every assignment laid out in front of him in emphatic fashion. At 16-0, he has amassed 14 stoppage victories and has won all seven of his bouts inside the ONE circle.
With so much gold around his waist, de Ridder consistently finds himself on every fighter’s hit list, but the Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo black belt has remained untouchable.
He dismissed former ONE welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov this past February and then submitted former middleweight king Vitaly Bigdash in three-and-a-half minutes in July, both ONE middleweight world title defenses.
The Dutchman wants bigger challenges, though, and at ONE on Prime Video 5, he’ll get it.
De Ridder will welcome the ONE interim heavyweight world champion in Malykhin to the light heavyweight division in his first world title defense in that weight class.
At 11-0, Malykhin has made short work of his fellow heavyweight scrappers, finishing every single one of them. What’s more, he has destroyed Alexandre Machado, Amir Aliakbari and Kirill Grishenko all by way of knockout – the latter of whom he beat for interim gold.
With that kind of momentum, the Russian didn’t want to wait for Bhullar to heal from an injury to unify the belts, so he decided to take on de Ridder for another big prize in the MMA world.
Should he leave the ONE circle victorious against “The Dutch Knight,” Malykhin will return to heavyweight with a new set of wares and join an elite circle of fighters who can call themselves double-champs.
