Reinier de Ridder, the current champion of the ONE Middleweight World Championship, is looking for new opponents, but this does not indicate that he will compete at the welterweight division.
“The Dutch Knight” has recently emerged victorious from a submission grappling duel against the BJJ phenom Tye Ruotolo, which took place back in May. Despite falling short, de Ridder is more intent on establishing himself as the undisputed champion of MMA.
The concept of De Ridder fighting at welterweight instead of middleweight while he waits for new challengers to his middleweight kingdom has become an enticing one in the meantime. The following is the response that the Dutchman provided when presented with that proposal by SCMP MMA:
“Moving down to welterweight alone would have such a significant impact on my day-to-day life,” he said. “It would be a game changer.” It would be highly harmful to my performance if I didn’t get there in a couple of months, and I absolutely needed those months.
You can see the entire interview down below:
At the present, De Ridder is contemplating whether or not he should defend his world title against Aung La N Sang, a former opponent of his who is also a world champion in two different weight classes.
They faced each other on two different occasions, the first time for the ONE light heavyweight championship, and the second time for the ONE middleweight strap. Given that Aung La has won all three of his most recent bouts, it seems likely that the two of them will face each other once again within the ONE Circle. It would most definitely be a battle in every sense of the word.
Also on the horizon is the possibility of a rematch between De Ridder and Anatoly Malykhin, who is currently the undisputed ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion. Malykhin recently challenged de Ridder after unifying the heavyweight belt earlier this month.
However, as De Ridder pointed out, everything will arrive at the appropriate moment. Despite the fact that he has suffered some setbacks, he is looking for a combatant who is eager to fight on his terms. After all, there’s a good reason why he’s regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound mixed martial arts competitors in the world by ONE.
