Reinier de Ridder admits confidence was his downfall against Anatoly Malykhin, promises to showcase ‘growth’ in Qatar

Reinier de Ridder has the chance to correct some mistakes from the past when he steps onto the global stage for his next assignment at ONE 166: Qatar.

‘The Dutch Knight’ faces Russian destroyer Anatoly Malykhin in a middleweight world title bout on March 1, which emanates live from the Lusail Sports Arena in Al Masrouhiya.

For the Breda native, this rematch against the ONE heavyweight and light heavyweight world champion is much more than just a window of opportunity to return to the winner’s column and avenge his defeat to ‘Sladkiy’ in December 2022.

He hopes to use this match to showcase his growth and improvements from a mental aspect after underestimating Malykhin’s game in their previous encounter.

Reinier de Ridder told sherdog.com:

“I thought I could take anybody down and choke anybody out in the world, but it wasn’t like that this time. I’ve tried to grow, and hopefully, I can show this March 1.”

Over the past year and a half, the Combat Brothers representative has used his time off to ensure he has left no stone unturned.

With his brutal first-round knockout loss to ‘Sladkiy’ as a motivational tool, the ground game wizard is pumped up to pick up a 17th career win and ruin Malykhin’s dream of becoming MMA’s first three-division world champion.

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Reinier de Ridder needs to mix things up in Malykhin rematch

After their one-sided affair at ONE on Prime Video 5, Reinier de Ridder should know what he needs to execute a victory over the unbeaten Russian superstar.

Instead of heavily relying on his takedown and grappling prowess, ‘The Dutch Knight’ will need to take a more calculative route before shooting in for takedowns.

As seen in a couple of his ground-and-pound wins over Marcus Plodek, Gilberto Galvao, and Alexander Heinrich, he certainly has striking weapons at his disposal.

The only difference is that he must deploy those weapons on the feet if he wants to stand any chance of taking matters into his own hands on the canvas.

North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can catch ONE 166: Qatar live and for free on March 1.