“I’ve been grinding ever since” – Reinier de Ridder says camp for Anatoly Malykhin started the day he lost their first fight

Reinier de Ridder’s long road to redemption will come to an end when he defends his middleweight MMA crown at ONE 166: Qatar against a familiar name.

Slightly over a year ago, ‘The Dutch Knight’ was handed a harsh reality check in his light heavyweight world title fight against Anatoly Malykhin, which went down at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December 2022.

Malykhin put on a striking display to not only hand the Breda native a first defeat inside the opening stanza but one that still admittedly hurts him to this day.

Not one to let defeat linger in his mind for too long, the Dutchman went back to work almost instantly to be prepared for the moment he gets an opportunity to meet the unbeaten Russian on the global stage again.

Now that the day is fast approaching, with their middleweight MMA world title matchup set to star in the headline attraction inside the Lusail Sports Arena on March 1, de Ridder opened up on his focus heading in this rematch.

He told the South China Morning Post:

“I've had a lot of time to prepare for this one. I've lined everything out that went wrong in the previous one, and I've been grinding ever since, trying to get everything right for this rematch.”

Watch the full interview here:

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Reinier de Ridder’s journey in ONE Championship

Since losing his light heavyweight crown to ‘Sladkiy', the Breda native has yet to feature in an MMA bout inside the ONE circle.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt did test himself in submission grappling at ONE Fight Night 10 in May last year for the second time – after drawing with Andre Galvao at ONE X – but it was another night to be forgotten as he slumped to a decision loss to Tye Ruotolo.

Before that, Reinier de Ridder enjoyed a 7-0 run at middleweight and light heavyweight, achieving world title success in both MMA divisions in back-to-back clashes against Aung La N Sang.

With his back against the wall, Reinier de Ridder hopes to rediscover the form that took him to the top while spoiling Malykhin’s dream of achieving three-division supremacy at ONE 166: Qatar.

The entire card will be available to fans in North America with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription on March 1.