Reinier de Ridder weighs in on Aung La N Sang-Vitaly Bigdash trilogy fight

Reinier de Ridder will headline ONE: Full Circle on February 25, which also features the culmination of a rivalry almost five years in the making. Aung La N Sang and Vitaly Bigdash are set to clash in what will be the final bout of their trilogy.

Ahead of the event, de Ridder shared his thoughts on the matchup:

“Let me be honest, I was very impressed with Bigdash in the fight with Fan Rong. He did extremely well and showed off his grappling, showed off his striking, and showed off a strong physique for his age. So yeah, he did very well and it's going to be an interesting one. It's been two very close fights and Aung is getting back to peak form as well. So it's an interesting one to see.”

‘The Dutch Knight’ defeated Aung La for both the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world titles on back-to-back occasions. While he hasn’t faced Bigdash, de Ridder shares with him the honor of handing Fan Rong his only defeats in his professional MMA career.

Hence, de Ridder is excited to see how the fight will unfold and doesn’t outrightly offer a clear winner between the two. However, de Ridder did mention previously that he isn’t interested in facing Aung La again, so he’s hoping that Bigdash can pull through to challenge him for his world title:

“Yeah, let's pray that he wins [laughs], so I get a fight.”

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Reinier de Ridder to face Kiamrian Abbasov in the main event

In the main event of ONE: Full Circle on Match 25, Reinier de Ridder will defend the ONE middleweight world title against Kiamrian Abbasov.

In December 2021, De Ridder issued multiple challenges in social media, including one to the top dog of the welterweight division. Abbasov gladly accepted the challenge and is now looking to become the latest two-division world champion in the promotion.

‘Brazen’ may have an uphill battle ahead of him but Aung La N Sang previously picked him to upset De Ridder as he has “all the tools” needed to defeat 'The Dutch Knight'.

Meanwhile, it will be paramount for De Ridder to defend both of his world titles before considering moving up to challenge the king of the highly competitive heavyweight division. While his focus is on defeating Abbasov, he will certainly keep an eye out for the winner of the Aung La-Bigdash tilt as his next potential challenger.

No matter the outcome though, one thing’s for certain - Reinier de Ridder will not back down against whoever he is matched up with.