Aung La N Sang reveals what makes Reinier de Ridder such a formidable world champion

Aung La N Sang had a few words to say about the defending middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder before his upcoming title bout against Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159.

De Ridder is arguably one of the greatest world champions to come out of ONE Championship. No one has come close to dethroning the dominant Dutch fighter, including Aung La N Sang.

The Myanmar legend has lost twice against 'The Dutch Knight' by being outgrappled in both instances. Therefore, he understands first-hand what it means to lose to such a formidable foe.

Recently, N Sang offered some insight into De Ridder’s grappling style.

He told ONE:

"[De Ridder’s best qualities are] his range, how long he is and his grappling. When you fight taller opponents, you have to close the distance, but he wants to close the distance as well because he’s a better grappler than he is a striker, so it’s interesting. He has interesting attributes. His grappling is very good. His wrestling is okay but his jiu-jitsu is very good.”

Reinier De Ridder’s next opponent is also a former middleweight world title holder. Bigdash has worked his way to the top again after losing the belt to Aung La in 2017. As Aung La explained, it will be very interesting to see how well De Ridder holds up against Bigdash’s explosive striking power. Or vice versa, how well Bigdash responds to and defends De Ridder’s problematic takedowns.

ONE 159 approaches quickly. Will it be the end of an era for De Ridder or will he retain his gold? Find out on Friday, July 22 on ONE’s super app.

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Recap of Reinier de Ridder’s elite level grappling skills

There hasn’t been an MMA fighter to match Reinier de Ridder’s elite grappling skills. With the exception of Andre Galvao, with whom he battled to a draw in a recent submission grappling bout, De Ridder has dominated every single opponent in the last 9 years.

'The Dutch Knight' has defeated big names in the stacked middleweight and lightweight divisions at ONE Championship including Aung La N Sang, Leandro Ataides, and Gilberto Galvao.

His best submission victory, however, was against the welterweight king Kiamrian Abbasov at ONE: Full Circle in Singapore.

As soon as the bell rang in the opening round, De Ridder immediately closed the gap and took control of the 185 pound Krgyzstani warrior. Abbasov tried his best to scramble out of the dire situation he was in, but to no avail. De Ridder muzzled the challenger with heavy punches and elbows to the head.

Bloodied and worn, Abbasov eventually succumbed to De Ridder via an arm-triangle choke in the second round.

Watch 'The Dutch Knight's' grappling skills in action below: