“Not the way I fight normally” - Reinier de Ridder rues ‘off night’ in first meeting with Anatoly Malykhin

Reinier de Ridder believes his first-round knockout loss to Anatoly Malykhin was nothing more than the result of an off night.

‘The Dutch Knight’ will have an opportunity to redeem himself on March 1 when ONE Championship stages the highly anticipated ONE 166 card at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar. In the main event of the evening, Reinier de Ridder will put his ONE middleweight MMA world title on the line against the reigning two-division world champ.

The bout will come 15 months removed from their first meeting when Malykhin dispatched de Ridder in the opening round at ONE on Prime Video 5 to take the Dutchman’s ONE light heavyweight MMA world title. Looking back on his lackluster performance, de Ridder acknowledges that his takedown attempts were not as on point as in his first 16 performances.

“The way I move, the way I enter into takedowns, that’s not the way I fight normally,’ de Ridder said in a short documentary produced by Threepeat Media. “Not the way I move normally.”

---

Reinier de Ridder felt unbeatable going into his first fight with Anatoly Malykhin

Before coming up short against Anatoly Malykhin in December 2022, Reinier de Ridder was a perfect 16-0 in his mixed martial arts career, with seven of those victories coming under the ONE banner.

As he continued to rack up the wins, de Ridder admitted to feeling practically unbeatable, but his loss to ‘Sladkiy’ showed him that not only is he not invincible, but that there was more at stake than his pride and 26 pounds of gold.

“I really did feel like I was unbeatable,” de Ridder added. "With fighting, you’re not even just risking your own health and your own pride or whatever. But also your wife is watching back home, your kids are watching one day. There’s a lot on the table.”

Will Anatoly Malykhin make history by becoming ONE Championship’s first-ever three-division world champion, or will ‘The Dutch Knight’ redeem himself on martial arts’ biggest global stage?

ONE 166: Qatar airs live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.