Reinier de Ridder breaks down Kiamrian Abbasov ahead of their clash at ONE: Full Circle

Reinier de Ridder, a two-division ONE world champion, will take on ONE welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov next. At stake is 'The Dutch Knight's' middleweight belt, and the 31-year-old has made it known he did his homework on his opponent.

In a recent interview, De Ridder broke down the skills and tendencies of his opponent:

“[Abbasov] flows from striking to wrestling pretty easily, but he gets a little overzealous sometimes and gets taken down by much smaller guys,” the Combat Brothers representative offers. “He’s got good hands, fast hands. He’s pretty one-dimensional in his boxing, pretty loose on speed, but makes some mistakes in his footwork. He has decent wrestling but gets taken down pretty often. So I think I’m dominating from start to finish.”

Reinier de Ridder has been hungry for a fight since he claimed the ONE middleweight and ONE light heavyweight world titles from Aung La N Sang. He beat the former champion in back-to-back matches over six months in early 2021.

In December, he called out Abbasov on his Instagram page. The ONE welterweight world champion responded with fire emojis, indicating that he was interested in mixing it up with De Ridder.

Their fight will finally materialize at ONE: Full Circle. While it may not be a chance at a third world title for De Ridder, he will get his wish of competing against the best by facing a fellow world champion in Abbasov.

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Reinier de Ridder admires Abbasov’s courage but remains confident in stopping him

Reinier de Ridder is supremely confident in his skills. The double champion has also consistently claimed that his match against Kiamrian Abbasov will be grossly in his favor.

However, he admires Abbasov for taking the challenge of facing him.

“It’s something I tip my hat to. It’s a big step up for him. He’s a lot shorter than I am, so hat’s off for trying,” De Ridder says. "He’s a durable fighter. He’s a good fighter all-around. I just think I’m on another level, and I’ll showcase that. I’m not underestimating him. I see his technique is crisp. I see he’s got championship heart. But once I get a hold of that neck, I’ll finish anybody in the world.”

Apart from Abbasov, De Ridder also called out the likes of Alain Ngalani in a Muay Thai bout, Buchecha in a heavyweight MMA clash, and even suggested facing both Rodtang and Demetrious Johnson in a two-against-one match.

Turning his attention to the match at hand, De Ridder summed up why he believes the outcome is inevitable.

“I’m better overall. I’m rangier in striking,” De Ridder asserts. “I’ll be able to touch him when I want to. I’m the better grappler, I’ll take anybody down in the world, and I’ll finish anybody in the world as well.”