Reinier de Ridder on fighting Aung La N Sang a third time: “It’s not that exciting”

Reinier de Ridder isn’t intrigued by a third fight against Aung La N Sang.

In December 2022, De Ridder’s two-division world title run in ONE Championship ended when Anatoly Malykhin knocked him out for his light heavyweight throne. As a result, ‘The Dutch Knight’ plans to defend his middleweight strap when he fights next.

It’s unclear who will be the next middleweight world title challenger. With that said, fellow former two-division world champion Aung La N Sang is being considered after winning three consecutive fights, all inside the distance. The problem is De Ridder has two wins against Aung La.

During an interview with SCMP MMA, Reinier De Ridder discussed the possibility of fighting Aung La for a third time:

“And if it's Aung, it's Aung, but yeah, who knows, man? I beat him twice. It's not that exciting, to be honest. So we're in a pickle.”

Reinier de Ridder has a different opponent in mind for his next middleweight world title defense. The 32-year-old voiced interest in fighting Shamil Erdogan, who holds a professional MMA record of 9-0. Erdogan made his ONE Championship debut on June 23 at ONE Friday Fights 22, defeating Fan Rong with a body kick in the second round.

De Ridder hopes to schedule the fight against Erdogan for August or September. ‘The Dutch Knight’ also recently stated that he plans to defend his middleweight throne and then pursue a rematch against Anatoly Malykhin toward the end of 2023. Only time will tell if he can bounce back from his loss against Malykhin and regain double-champ status.