“His jiu-jitsu game has not evolved” - Reinier de Ridder thinks Anatoly Malykhin’s ground game is one dimensional

Double world champion Reinier de Ridder believes Anatoly Malykhin’s jiu-jitsu hasn’t evolved since his last few fights, claiming he’s too one-dimensional.

‘The Dutch Knight’ returns for the third time this year to defend his light heavyweight gold against ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin at ONE on Prime Video 5.

The event takes place on a titanic double-header card on Friday, December 2 at the Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines. It’s live and free for North American audiences with a Prime Video subscription.

De Ridder for one is excited to end the year with a bang against an exciting athlete whom he holds in high regard, although he can’t say the same thing about Malykhin’s jiu-jitsu skills.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) recently, ‘The Dutch Knight’ said:

“His grappling is not really there. His jiu-jitsu game has not evolved, at all, as far as I’ve seen his fights. I’m not sure if training-wise, if he spends a lot of time on the floor. He doesn’t pass guard. He only gets takedowns and he stays at full guard and tries to pound the guy out – which he’s pretty successful at, though. I’m not being too critical there.”

Catch the full interview below:

It goes without saying that Reinier De Ridder is the most dominant grappler this generation has ever seen. He’s an incredible athlete who rarely makes mistakes as he gets more creative and inventive in each new match.

What makes his future showdown with Malykhin so compelling is that de Ridder will likely be tested on the feet in the first round. The Russian juggernaut is a bit of a loose cannon.

He’s an explosive and prolific knockout artist who pillaged his way up to the top rankings with almost minimal effort, finishing fights within the first two rounds.

Should Reinier de Ridder gets past the first round, he could finish the fight in the second round by submission. However, as many sports fans know, MMA is as unpredictable as life itself, you never know what could happen.

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Anatoly Malykhin confident Reinier de Ridder won’t take him down

Ironically, Anatoly Malykhin believes Reinier De Ridder’s grappling-heavy game plan to be a little one-dimensional as well. Although they have mutual respect for each other, both know where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

Moving down from heavyweight to meet ‘The Dutch Knight’ for double gold, ‘Sladkiy’ is confident De Ridder will have trouble exercising his game plan against him.

The 34-year-old hard-hitter told ONE:

“There has never been any disrespect from me when it comes to de Ridder, but he doesn’t surprise me with anything. I know his strengths – endurance and a strong ground game, but he just doesn’t understand my level of fighting, and that’s his weak point. He thinks he can take me down, but he won’t succeed.”