Reinier de Ridder admits he should have taken more risks against Tye Ruotolo

Reigning ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder is aware of his faults during his all-grappling war with Tye Ruotolo.

‘The Dutch Knight’ went back to his roots and competed in a submission grappling match with the 20-year-old phenom in the monumental ONE Fight Night 10 card last May.

Unfortunately, things did not go his way and he found himself on the short end of a unanimous decision loss.

In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, de Ridder admitted he should have done more to make it a more exciting match-up to live up to its billing:

“It doesn't make me happy or sad, but it would have been cool to choke him out. And I think I could have had a chance. Maybe I should have taken a bit more risks.”

Then again, ‘RDR’ argued that Ruotolo also played it safe for fear of getting caught in a compromising position that would lead to a submission. He added:

“He didn't really take a lot of risk either. So we were close in that regard. I think both of us were thinking of when we were both kind of avoiding getting guillotined and or D'arced. And this is the result.”

Given both fighters’ reputations as feared submission experts, the middleweight grappling showdown was expected not to reach the judges’ scorecards.

However, de Ridder and Ruotolo canceled each other out, as neither man was able to complete a takedown before the time expired.

In the end, Ruotolo was deemed the aggressor and got his hand raised.

Rewatch the 10-minute grappling affair, here:

The entire ONE Fight Night 10 spectacle is also available for replay on Prime Video for its existing members in North America.