“He is still the champ at heavyweight” - Reinier de Ridder hasn’t completely given up on Arjan Bhullar fight

It has been next to impossible for Reinier de Ridder to get reigning ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar into the circle, but ‘The Dutch Knight’ has certainly tried his best.

De Ridder made an effort to goad Bhullar into a fight with the goal of becoming MMA’s first-ever three-division world champion from a major global organization. But Bhullar’s entire year and beyond has been riddled with various hurdles that have kept him away from the circle.

At first, it was delicate contract negotiations with ONE Championship that sidelined Bhullar for an extensive period of time. Once those issues were ironed out and a new contract was agreed upon, Bhullar returned to training camp for what was to be a heavyweight unification bout against interim champion Anatoly Malykhin, only to injure himself, which has sidelined him for an additional period.

All throughout, De Ridder has remained patient in calling out Bhullar for a fight. And even though the Canadian-Indian star is more of an afterthought at this point in time, ‘The Dutch Knight’ hasn’t completely given up on a showdown with ‘Singh’.

Speaking in a recent interview with Morning Kombat, Reinier de Ridder said he’s still open to fighting Bhullar in the future. The Netherlands native said:

“Bhullar is still there, he hasn’t been really active, but he is still the champ at heavyweight. So that would be cool as well.”

But before De Ridder can even think about fighting Bhullar, he will have to first face a dangerous man in front of him. Reinier de Ridder will put his ONE light heavyweight world title on the line against ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 5, which broadcasts live and for free to Prime Video subscribers in North America on Friday, December 2.

Watch the full interview here:

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Reinier de Ridder looking to do "something special"

The two-division world champion Reinier de Ridder has made no secret of his goals of doing something that has never been done before in the circle. Since claiming the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world titles, he has aimed to claim more gold in the promotion.

During the same interview with Morning Kombat, ‘The Dutch Knight’ said:

“That’s why I’m here. I want to do something special. And that would be something very special. It’s something I’ve been looking at. I’ve been asking for it for a while.”

While he may not be fighting for the heavyweight world title just yet, Reinier de Ridder will have a chance to test himself with a legitimate contender from the division at ONE 164 on Saturday, December 3.