Reinier de Ridder admits KO loss to Anatoly Malykhin made him "rethink" his decisions

At ONE on Prime Video 5 in December, Reinier de Ridder tasted defeat for the first time in his career.

Putting one of his two world championships on the line against interim heavyweight titleholder Anatoly Malykhin, ‘The Dutch Knight’ bit off more than he could chew.

After producing an undefeated streak of 16 wins, to lose in such devastating fashion could have been a huge moment in the champion’s career. However, he is using it to come back stronger.

De Ridder has used the defeat as an opportunity to look at what he did wrong and what he can do better in the future to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Reinier de Ridder said:

“There’s a lot of stuff. Of course, when something like this happens, you rethink everything you do and there was a lot of stuff that I could have done better preparing for that matchup. After 16 wins and kinda beating everybody pretty easily, I might have gotten a bit too cocky. I thought I could do this to anybody in the world easily.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Reinier de Ridder all praise for Danaher Death Squad after training with them

Ahead of his return to competition at ONE Fight Night 10, Reinier de Ridder has been training with the legendary Danaher Death Squad.

Training out in Austin, Texas, the level of jiu-jitsu doesn’t get any higher than on those mats. With grappling mastermind John Danaher at the helm, the likes of Gordon Ryan, Garry Tonon, Nicky Ryan and Craig Jones can all be regularly found getting work in.

Danaher’s stable of grapplers rose to prominence during the 2010s, when his team cleaned up world title wins for no-gi across the board.

In an interview with SCMP MMA, Reinier de Ridder spoke about his time training alongside some of the best grapplers in the world:

“Definitely, they’re on the top of the heap right now,” de Ridder said. “There’s a thing. Grappling for MMA is just different from grappling for grappling.”

After his loss to Anatoly Malykhin at ONE on Prime Video 5, ‘The Dutch Knight’ will be taking a step away from MMA for his next contest. At ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5 in the United States, de Ridder will face Tye Ruotolo in a high-level submission grappling contest.

Reinier de Ridder will be hoping that his time spent with the Danaher Death Squad can help him challenge another one of the top submission grapplers in the world today.