Reinier de Ridder admits he would rather rematch Fan Rong than Aung La N Sang

Reinier de Ridder returns to competition at ONE Fight Night 10 on Prime Video after tasting defeat for the first time in his career.

Whilst ‘The Dutch Knight’ may have lost his ONE light heavyweight world championship at ONE on Prime Video 5 to Anatoly Malykhin, his run as the middleweight king has been completely dominant.

Scheduled for the same card as his submission grappling match with Tye Ruotolo, middleweight contenders Aung La N Sang and Fan Rong could position themselves as the potential next world title contender with a win on May 5.

As he prepares for his own matchup on May 5 at 1stBank Center, Reinier de Ridder spoke about who he would rather face out of the two contenders.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, he said:

“Maybe. Well, Aung La is doing very well of course, except for the loss to [Vitaly] Bigdash, he’s kind of ran through everybody else. But at the moment, it doesn’t get me excited to face Aung again because of the result of the first two fights.”

He added:

“Fan Rong, it’s been a long time since we’ve met. He was my first opponent in ONE. It would be more interesting to see how far he’s come.”

ONE Fight Night 10 is ONE Championship’s first on-site fight card in the United States and will be available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.

Watch the full interview below:

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Reinier de Ridder says it’s "very cool" to get to grapple with Tye Ruotolo

After losing his undefeated record in MMA last time out, Reinier de Ridder is returning at ONE Fight Night 10 to challenge himself in another skillset.

On May 5 in Broomfield, Colorado, ‘The Dutch Knight’ will take on Tye Ruotolo in a submission grappling contest that fans have been talking about for a long time. The reigning ONE middleweight world champion is known for his submission skills, securing 11 of his 16 wins by getting the tap.

Either way, the Dutchman will have his work cut out for him when he takes on one of the world’s best no gi grapplers.

This contest has been a long time coming after Reinier de Ridder competed against Ruotolo’s mentor Andre Galvao at ONE X last March, with their contest going to a draw.

In an interview with ONE Championship, ‘The Dutch Knight’ spoke about his excitement for this upcoming contest:

He said:

“I expected something like that. It’s very cool that I got a shot at this. I got to grapple Andre Galvao, and I get to grapple Tye Ruotolo, who’s one of the hottest prospects right now in grappling.”

The Combat Brothers affiliate added:

“I’m not even a grappler. I’m an MMA fighter, so it’s very cool that I get this opportunity.”