Christian Lee says Reinier de Ridder impressed him the most in 2022

As 2022 comes to a close, Christian Lee has shown some praise for Reinier de Ridder.

‘The Warrior’ has had a great year competing in ONE Championship, winning two world titles in the space of three months to become a double world champion at lightweight and welterweight.

Reinier de Ridder has also held that status and for the majority of 2022, it didn’t look like either of his world titles would be changing hands anytime soon.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Christian Lee had this to say about ’The Dutch Knight':

“I think [Reinier] de Ridder did a great job this year, I know that he just had a tough loss to [Anatoly] Malykhin but before that the string of wins he put together was pretty impressive.”

As Lee points out, de Ridder’s 2022 did end with a loss to Anatoly Malykhin at ONE on Prime Video 5.

While he may have failed to defend his light heavyweight world title, the Dutchman did produce two dominant defenses of his middleweight world title this year.

Submitting Kiamrian Abbasov and Vitaly Bigdash, Reinier de Ridder still has total control over the middleweight division.

In 2023, he will look to rebound from his loss to Malykhin, potentially in a rematch with the Russian or by adding some more title defenses to his middleweight crown.

---

ONE CEO on Reinier de Ridder shaking off devastating KO

At ONE on Prime Video 5, Reinier de Ridder suffered the first professional loss of his already storied career. Coming into the event as the reigning middleweight and light heavyweight double world champion, the Dutchman was handed his first career setback by way of a devastating knockout.

Undefeated Russian Anatoly Malykhin was able to defend de Ridder’s takedowns and use his superior power to control the fight. Securing double champion status for himself, the interim heavyweight world champion looked like an absolute monster.

Even with the lopsided loss to the Russian juggernaut, the ONE CEO and chairman Chatri Sityodtong was still impressed by Reinier de Ridder’s warrior spirit. Speaking at the ONE on Prime Video 5 post-fight press conference, Sityodtong said:

“No, he was still fighting. That's what was happening. He was knocked senseless, and he was still fighting. I mean, that also speaks to RDR's warrior spirit. He got hit so hard that when he came to, he was still trying to fight. So he was like, going for a single against our doctor.”

'The Dutch Knight' followed up with his fans after the loss on Instagram, saying:

"I'm ok sweet people. Took a chance and it didn't work out well this time. Life is still good. Happy to be going back to my wife and kids."