Aung La N Sang wasn’t surprised Anatoly Malykhin was able to out-wrestle Reinier de Ridder

Aung La N Sang was far from surprised by Anatoly Malykhin’s ability to fend off Reinier de Ridder’s wrestling.

Closing out 2022 with a bang, Malykhin handed ‘The Dutch Knight’ his first career loss with a brutal first-round knockout at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December. It was a classic battle of striker vs. grappler, but many overlooked the fact that the Russian juggernaut is an accomplished wrestler. Not to mention holding a significant size advantage over de Ridder.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Aung La N Sang shared his thoughts on Anatoly Malykhin’s dominant performance against de Ridder, making in a two-division ONE world champion in the process.

“[De Ridder] doesn’t outstrike people, you know. He grapples them. He takes them down and grapples them. How is he going to grapple a high-level wrestler who is bigger than him and stronger than him and have really good Greco-style wrestling which is very much Reinier’s style, the body lock and such.”

Anatoly Malykhin will attempt to score another big win this month when he returns to the Circle for a ONE heavyweight world championship unification bout with reigning titleholder Arjan ‘Singh’ Bhullar. The two behemoths will headline ONE Fight Night 8 on Prime Video when the promotion returns to the familiar confines of the Singapore Indoor Stadium on March 24.

Watch the interview below:

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Reinier de Ridder plans to avenge his loss against Anatoly Malykhin

Reinier de Ridder’s loss to Anatoly Malykhin was a tough one for ‘The Dutch Knight’ to swallow. Not only did he suffer the first loss of his MMA career, but he also lost his ONE light heavyweight world championship on top of it. Not to mention the humility that comes with being knocked out cold inside the first round.

While no one would blame de Ridder for opting to move on, ‘The Dutch Knight’ has every intention of avenging his loss. Speaking with SCMP MMA, de Ridder shared his thoughts on a potential rematch and what he would do differently the second time around:

“I’ll take some time to prepare for this one,” de Ridder said. “I’ve really been working on footwork and stuff. I’ll take a couple of months, like three months at least, before I accept the fight to be able to gain some kilos. Get at least close to like 100 kilos or 102. There’s a lot of intricate, technical stuff that I can do differently. It’s a lot of work, but I’m more than prepared to do everything that’s needed to beat this guy.”

Watch their fight below: